According to Mormon cosmology, there was a pre-existence, or a pre-mortal life, in which human spirits were literal children of heavenly parents,[1] although their spirits were created, the essential "intelligence" of these spirits is considered eternal, and without beginning. During this pre-mortal life, two plans were said to have been presented, one championed by God the Father, and another presented by Lucifer (Satan) that would have involved loss of moral agency. When Lucifer's plan was not accepted, he is said to have rebelled against God and been cast out of heaven, taking "the third part" of the hosts of heaven with him to the earth, thus becoming the tempters.

According to the plan of salvation as described by God the Father, Jehovah (the premortal Jesus) created the earth, under the direction of God the Father, as a place where humanity would be tested. After the resurrection, all men and women—except the spirits that followed Lucifer and the sons of perdition—would be assigned one of three degrees of glory. Within the highest degree, the celestial kingdom, there are three further divisions, and those in the highest of these celestial divisions would become gods and goddesses through a process called "exaltation" or "eternal progression". The doctrine of eternal progression was succinctly summarized by LDS Church leader Lorenzo Snow: "As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be."[2][3] According to Smith's King Follett discourse, God the Father himself once passed through mortality as Jesus did, but how, when, or where that took place is unclear, the prevailing view among Mormons is that God once lived on a planet with his own higher god.[4][5]

According to Mormon scripture, the Earth's creation was not ex nihilo, but organized from existing matter, the Earth is just one of many inhabited worlds, and there are many governing heavenly bodies, including the planet or star Kolob, which is said to be nearest the throne of God.

In Mormonism, the concept of divinity centers around an idea of "exaltation" and "eternal progression": mortals themselves may become gods and goddesses in the afterlife, be rulers of their own heavenly kingdoms, have spirit children, and increase in power and glory forever. Mormons understand that there are many gods and goddesses in the cosmos, including a Heavenly Mother.[6] However, the three persons of Godhead (God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost) are to be the only objects of worship.

In Mormonism, the goal of each adherent is to achieve "exaltation" via the atonement of Jesus. If a person achieves exaltation, they inherit all the attributes of God the Father, including godhood.[7] Mormons believe that these people will become gods and goddesses in the afterlife, and will have "all power, glory, dominion, and knowledge".[8] Mormons teach that exalted people will live with their earthly families and will also "have spirit children":[9] their posterity will grow forever.

According to the belief, exaltation is available only to those who have earned the highest "degree" of the celestial kingdom,[10] as prerequisites for this "greatest gift of God",[11] adherents believe that either in this life or the afterlife, they must become "perfect" and they must participate in all the required ordinances. Though not necessary, their exaltation can be "sealed upon them" by the Holy Ghost via the Second Anointing ordinance. One of the key qualifications for exaltation is being united in a celestial marriage to an opposite-sex partner via the ordinance of sealing,[12][13] either in person or by proxy after they have died. In the 19th century, some leaders of the LDS Church taught that participation in plural marriage was also a requirement of exaltation,[14] the LDS Church abandoned the practice beginning in 1890 and now teaches that only a single celestial marriage is required for exaltation.[15]

According to Mormon theology, God the Father is a physical being of "flesh and bones."[16] Mormons identify him as the biblical god Elohim. Latter-day Saint leaders have also taught that God the Father was once a mortal man who has completed the process of becoming an exalted being.[17] According to Joseph Smith, God "once was a man like one of us and … once dwelled on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did in the flesh and like us."[18]

According to Mormon belief, Jesus is identified as the god Jehovah, the YHWH of the Old Testament. Jehovah received a body when he was born to the Virgin Mary and was named Jesus. Jesus was the Son of God—the father of his physical body was God the Father,[19] because Jesus was the Son of God, he had power to overcome physical death.[20][21] Because he lived a perfect and sinless life, Jesus could offer himself as an "infinite and eternal" sacrifice that would be required to pay for the sins of all of the other children of God.[21][22]

According to Brigham Young, Adam was a god identified as the biblical archangelMichael prior to his placement in the Garden of Eden. The pre-existent godhood of Adam/Michael is now repudiated by the LDS Church, but it is accepted by some adherents of Mormon fundamentalism. According to this interpretation of Young's teachings, Michael was a god who had received his exaltation, he took Eve, one of his wives, to the Garden,[23] where they became mortal by eating the fruit in the garden.[24]

Although the LDS Church has repudiated the Adam–God doctrine,[25] the denomination's endowment ceremony portrays this Adam/Michael as a participant with Jehovah in the creation of the earth, under the direction of Elohim.[26]

The official doctrine of the LDS Church includes the existence of "heavenly parents", which is generally understood to refer to the goddess Heavenly Mother, who exists alongside God the Father and is his wife.[6][27]

God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are recognized as the three constituent entities of the Godhead,[28] the Holy Ghost has a spirit body,[28] in contrast with the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, who have physical celestial bodies.[29]

Mormon cosmology teaches that the Earth is not unique, but that it is one of many inhabited planets,[30] each planet created for the purpose of bringing about the "immortality and eternal life" (i.e., the exaltation) of humanity.[31] These worlds were, according to doctrine, created by Jehovah, the pre-mortal Jesus,[32] because Mormonism holds that Jesus created the universe, yet his father, God the Father, once dwelt upon an earth as a mortal, it may be interpreted that Mormonism teaches the existence of a multiverse, and it is not clear if the other inhabited worlds mentioned in Mormon scripture and teachings refers to planets within this universe or not.[33] Mormon leaders and theologians have taught that these inhabitants are similar or identical to humans,[34] and that they too are subject to the atonement of Jesus,[35] the earth that God the Father dwelt on as a mortal was not, however, created by Jehovah or subject to his atonement, but existed previously.[36]

The doctrine of other worlds is found in Mormon scripture, in the endowment ceremony, and in the teachings of Joseph Smith; in addition, many LDS Church leaders and theologians have elaborated on these principles through exegesis or speculation, and many of these ideas are widely accepted among Mormons.[37]

According to a revelation dictated by Joseph Smith, Jesus is the creator of many worlds, so "that by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."[35]Smith's translation of the Bible also refers to "many worlds", and states that the vision Moses had on Sinai was limited to "only account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, [but] there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power[, a]nd there are many that now stand."[38] Another part of Smith's translation portrays the biblical character Enoch as stating that if there were "millions of earths like this [earth], it would not be a beginning to the number of [God's] creations; and [his] curtains are stretched out still."[39]

Finally, the portion of the LDS Church's endowment ceremony depicting the creation of the world refers repeatedly to "worlds heretofore created";[40] in the portrayal of the Garden of Eden story during the endowment, after Lucifer has tempted Eve to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, God the Father asks Lucifer what he is doing, and Lucifer replies "that which has been done on other worlds".[41]

Some individual Latter-day Saints have espoused opinions that demonstrate their personal beliefs on the subject of other life in the universe.

According to Latter-day Saint Oliver B. Huntington, Joseph Smith made a statement that there was life on the Moon; Huntington also reported that he was promised in a patriarchal blessing given to him by Joseph Smith, Sr. that he would preach the gospel to inhabitants of the Moon.[42] Huntington wrote "As far back as 1837, I know he [Smith] said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do – that they live generally to near the age of 1000 years, he described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style." He also wrote "In my Patriarchal blessing, given by the father of Joseph the Prophet, in Kirtland, 1837, I was told that I should preach the gospel before I was 21 years of age; that I should preach the gospel to the inhabitants upon the islands of the sea, and – to the inhabitants of the moon, even the planet you can now behold with your eyes."[43]

LDS researchers John A. Tvedtnes and Van Hale have expressed doubt about the reliability of Huntington's two claims. Regarding the first claim, it is likely that Huntington was repeating a description provided by another Latter-day Saint, Philo Dibble.[44] (Huntington was a child at the time Smith lived and was not a close contemporary of Smith at any time during his life.) It is unclear what Dibble's source for the statement is, because Dibble did not indicate whether the recollection was his own or something he had heard from another person.[44] The alleged teaching was first recorded by Huntington in a journal entry after he heard it from Dibble approximately forty years after Smith's death.[45] Regarding Huntington's second claim, the official LDS Church's record of the blessing indicates that it was given to Huntington by his father, William Huntington, and not by Joseph Smith, Sr.[44]

The extract from the blessing suggests a more plausible rationale, in that the events could occur at some time in the future or after mortality. Hence: "thou shalt have power with God even to translate thyself to Heaven, & preach to the inhabitants of the moon or planets, if it shall be expedient".[46]

There are no contemporary reports, records, or any other written support of Smith's alleged views or statements on extraterrestrials, nor are there any reports of statements other than the one claimed by Huntington, which is unverified and therefore possibly unreliable, it has also been pointed out by Tvedtnes and James B. Allen that, unlike many of Smith's statements, there is no indication that Smith claimed that any such alleged opinions on extraterrestrials was revealed to him by God nor that Smith was allegedly speaking under any prophetic authority.[45][47]

In a statement given on July 24, 1870, LDS Church presidentBrigham Young discussed the possibility that the Sun and the Moon were inhabited. However, Young stated that this was his own personal belief and thoughts;[48] in response to a claim of his being ignorant on the matter, Young admitted his ignorance and stated, "Are not [we] all ignorant [pertaining to these matters]?"[48] He wrote "Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon?... When you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the ignorant of their fellows. So it is in regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain.”[49]

Various publications regarding the subject of Young's statement acknowledge that these were personal beliefs held by Young and such beliefs were common in the nineteenth century and were even considered to be "scientific fact" by many at the time,[44][47] for example, William Herschel, the discoverer of the planet Uranus, argued "[w]ho can say that it is not extremely probable, nay beyond doubt, that there must be inhabitants on the Moon of some kind or another?" Regarding Herschel, historians have claimed that "he thought it possible that there was a region below the Sun's fiery surface where men might live, and he regarded the existence of life on the Moon as 'an absolute certainty.'"[50]

In any event, the personal beliefs of Young on the subject of "inhabited worlds" is not considered doctrine of the LDS Church.

Some modern LDS Church leaders have taught that there are people living on other earths, for instance, apostleJoseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) wrote:

We are not the only people that the Lord has created. We have brothers and sisters on other earths, they look like us because they, too, are the children of God and were created in his image, for they are also his offspring.[34]

and

the great universe of stars has multiplied beyond the comprehension of men. Evidently each of these great systems is governed by divine law; with divine presiding Gods, for it would be unreasonable to assume that each was not so governed.[51]

Apostle Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) wrote, "we do not know how many inhabited worlds there are, or where they are. But certainly we are not alone."[52]

Mormon scripture and the teachings of Joseph Smith include a number of details concerning the nature of light, elements, matter, "spirit matter", and intelligence.

According to Mormon scripture, "the elements are eternal",[53] this means, according to Smith, that the elements are co-existent with God, and "they may be organized and reorganized, but not destroyed. They had not beginning, and can have no end."[54] This principle was elaborated on by Brigham Young, who said, "God never made something out of nothing; it is not in the economy or law of which the worlds were, are, or will exist."[55] Thus, Mormons deny ex nihilo creation and instead believe that God created or "organized" the universe out of pre-existing elements.[56]

Along with physical matter, Mormons believe that spirit "intelligences" have existed co-eternally with God.[57][58]

Mormons believe in a universe and a God governed by physical law, in which all miracles, including acts of God, have a natural explanation, though science does not yet have the tools or means necessary to explain them.[59]

It is believed there were pre-existing "spirit intelligences" that existed before the God the Father and Heavenly Mother created spiritual bodies for them: "self-existing intelligences were organized into individual spirit beings"[60] by the Heavenly Parents and they became the "begotten sons and daughters of God",[61] the procreative process whereby the intelligences became spirits has not been explained. While spirit bodies are composed of matter, they are described as being "more fine or pure" than regular matter.[62]

The first-born spirit child of God the Father was Jehovah, whom Latter-day Saints identify as the premortal Jesus.[63][64][65] Jehovah was a God[66] and was like God the Father in attributes,[67] but he did not have an immortal physical body like God the Father until his resurrection.[68]

God the Father's plan for all his children was to provide a way for them to become more like him,[65] although they were happy living in heaven with God the Father, God's spirit children could not experience the "fulness of joy" enjoyed by him unless their spirit bodies were joined with a physical body.[65][69] God the Father convened a "Grand Council" of all his children to propose a plan of progression, known to Latter-day Saints as the plan of salvation.[70] According to the proposed plan, God would provide an earth where spirit children could receive a physical body.

One of the purposes of this earthly existence is for each of God's children to demonstrate through free will the desire to choose righteousness rather than evil.[65] To facilitate free will decision-making, God would cause each spirit child to have no memory of their pre-earth life.[65] All would be given trials and would fall short of perfection, but a savior would be provided, the acceptance of whom would lead ultimately to redemption and a return to live with God the Father forever.[65] Jehovah volunteered to be the savior[71][72] and said, "Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever."[73] Jehovah was "the only person who could be [the] Savior".[21]

Lucifer, another of the spirit sons of God the Father, also sought to be the chosen savior; however, he proposed that the free will of humankind be abrogated so that "all mankind" would be redeemed through compelled obedience.[74] Additionally, Lucifer proposed that all glory and honor (and consequently power)[75] be transferred from God the Father to himself. Lucifer's plan was rejected by God the Father, which caused Lucifer to be enraged and to attempt to overthrow God.[72][74]

The War in Heaven ensued whereby Lucifer and his followers fought against Jehovah and his followers. One-third of the spirit children of God chose to follow Lucifer.[72] Lucifer and his followers were cast out of heaven by God the Father,[72] because of their rebellion, Lucifer and the spirits who followed him would not receive a physical body as specified in the plan of salvation. Lucifer is also known as Satan or the Devil.[74] Satan and his spirit followers tempt people to make evil choices.[72]

Following the War in Heaven, Jesus created the earth under the direction of God the Father, since all matter is co-eternal with God, creation of the earth was not performed ex nihilo. Rather, God performed creation by organizing pre-existing matter,[56] the earth and everything on it were created spiritually by God before they were created physically.[76] Jehovah used the priesthood to create the physical earth and everything in it as well as the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets.[77] Jehovah had assistance from other children of God, including the archangelMichael. God the Father and Jehovah together created the physical bodies of Adam and Eve, which were patterned after the physical body possessed by God. Michael's spirit was placed in the male body (Adam), and a spirit daughter of God was placed in the female body (Eve).

Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, although they had physical bodies, they were not yet mortal.[78] God the Father commanded them to have children,[78] he also told them that they could eat of any tree in the garden except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and that they would "surely die" if they ate of that tree.[79]

Satan tempted Adam and Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. Eve yielded to temptation and ate the fruit; when she told Adam that she had eaten the fruit, Adam chose to eat also.[78] As a result of their decision to eat the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve underwent the "fall", as God had promised, the bodies of Adam and Eve became mortal and they became subject to physical death, as well as sickness and pain.[78] They also underwent "spiritual death": they were cast out of the Garden of Eden and separated from the presence of God.[78] Due to the fall, Adam and Eve also came to know the difference between good and evil and became capable of having children, as God had originally commanded.[78]

As a direct result of the fall of Adam and Eve, all children of God who would be born into the world suffer physical death and spiritual death.[21] While physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body, spiritual death is the separation of a person from God.[21] Spiritual death results from making sinful decisions between good and evil. Were it not for the atonement of Jesus Christ, physical death and spiritual death would both prevent God's children from returning to him with a physical body.[21]

Unlike some Christians, Latter-day Saints generally do not see the fall as a serious sin or as an overwhelmingly negative event. Rather, the fall is viewed as "a necessary step in the plan of life and a great blessing to all of us, because of the Fall, we are blessed with physical bodies, the right to choose between good and evil, and the opportunity to gain eternal life. None of these privileges would have been ours had Adam and Eve remained in the garden."[78] Latter-day scripture reports that Adam and Eve later rejoiced that they had chosen to partake of the fruit,[80] and the Book of Mormon teaches that the fall was necessary for humankind to exist and for them to experience joy, which is the ultimate purpose of existence.[81]

If a person physically dies without being given the chance to accept the atonement of Jesus Christ on the earth, he or she will be given that chance as a spirit after death.[82] Necessary ordinances, such as baptism, can be vicariously performed on behalf of the person in LDS Church temples.[82]

Mormons believe that Jesus guaranteed the physical resurrection of all humanity, they teach that when Jesus physically died on the cross, Jesus' suffering ended and his spirit left his physical body.[83]

On the third day after his death, Jesus' spirit returned to his physical body and he became the first child of God to be resurrected with a perfect and immortal physical body of flesh and bone,[21] because Jesus was resurrected, all children of God who ever lived on the earth will one day be resurrected.[84][85] Thus, the spirit children of God will all receive immortal physical bodies of flesh and bone, and their spirits and their bodies will never again be separated.[86]

After an individual is resurrected, he or she will be judged by Jesus as part of the Final Judgment. There are three degrees or kingdoms of glory which are the ultimate, eternal dwelling places for nearly all who lived on earth; a degree of glory is assigned to the person at the Final Judgment. Joseph Smith provided a description of the afterlife based primarily upon an 1832 vision he reportedly received with Sidney Rigdon and recorded as Doctrine and Covenantssection 76. According to this section of the vision, there are three degrees of glory, called the celestial kingdom, the terrestrial kingdom, and the telestial kingdom. The few who do not inherit any degree of glory—though they will be resurrected—reside in a state called outer darkness, which, though not a degree of glory, is often discussed in this context, the ones who will go there are known as "sons of perdition"; sons of perdition are to dwell with Satan and his spirit followers.

In consequence of the atonement of Jesus Christ, a son or daughter of God the Father may overcome physical and spiritual death and return to live with God forever, those individuals who receive this—which is described as the "greatest gift of God"[11]—are said to enter into a state of "exaltation" after they are resurrected.[87] Exaltation is also called "salvation" or "eternal life".[88]

Exaltation consists of "the kind of life God lives";[87] in other words, exalted beings will live in great glory, be perfect, and possess all knowledge and wisdom.[87] Exalted beings will live forever with God the Father and Jesus Christ, will become gods and goddesses, will live with their righteous earthly family members, and will receive the fulness of joy enjoyed by God and Christ.[87] One of the key qualifications for exaltation is being united in a celestial marriage to an opposite-sex partner,[12][13] such a union can be created during mortality, or it can be created after death by proxy marriages performed in temples.[82]

^LDS Church 1995 ("Each [human] is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents."); LDS Church 2009, p. 9 ("Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father.").

^Some sources state that "salvation" refers only to the process of souls being freed from the bonds of Hell (also called "Spirit Prison"), or released from Paradise (also called "Spirit Paradise"), and the subsequent resurrection of said souls; while "exaltation" and "eternal life" refer to the state of living with God the Father and Jesus Christ in the "highest degree" of heaven.

1.
Christus (statue)
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Christus is a 19th-century Carrara marble statue of the resurrected Jesus by Bertel Thorvaldsen. Since its completion in 1838, the statue has been located in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, Denmark. In the 20th century, images and replicas of the statue were adopted by the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to emphasize the centrality of Jesus Christ in church teachings. Thorvaldsen was commissioned to sculpt statues of Jesus and the apostles for the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, the statue of Jesus was completed in 1821. The Christus was not well known outside of Denmark until 1896, the statue is 3.2 metres high. The inscription at the base of the sculpture reads Kommer til mig with a reference to the Bible verse, in the 1950s, LDS Church leader Stephen L Richards purchased a 3. 4-metre replica of the Christus and presented it to Church President David O. McKay. In 1966, the statue was placed in the churchs Temple Square in Salt Lake City, the churchs second Christus replica was created to be displayed in the churchs pavilion at the 1964 New York Worlds Fair. The display of the replica was intended to help visitors understand that Latter-day Saints are Christians, george, Utah, Washington, D. C. and Provo, Utah. Replicas are also on display at LDS Church visitors centers at the Hill Cumorah and in Independence, the LDS Church uses the image of the Christus on its webpages and in other official publications. A full-size replica of the Christus is located in The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2009, a six-foot Christus replica was built out of 30,000 white Lego pieces by parishioners of a Swedish Protestant church in Västerås. Another copy of the statue is in front of the Friedenskirche in Potsdam, which was built from 1845-1854

2.
Jesus
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In Christology, the Person of Christ refers to the study of the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ as they co-exist within one person. There is no discussion in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human. Hence, since the days of Christianity theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures. In the period following the Apostolic Age, specific beliefs such as Arianism and Docetism were criticized. On the other end of the spectrum, Docetism argued that Jesus physical body was an illusion, docetic teachings were attacked by St. Ignatius of Antioch and were eventually abandoned by proto-orthodox Christians. However, after the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos, historically in the Alexandrian school of christology, Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos paradoxically humanized in history, a divine Person who became enfleshed, uniting himself to the human nature. The views of these schools can be summarized as follows, Alexandria, Antioch, Logos assumes a specific human being The First Council of Ephesus in 431 debated a number of views regarding the Person of Christ. At the same gathering the council debated the doctrines of monophysitism or miaphysitism. The council rejected Nestorianism and adopted the term hypostatic union, referring to divine, the language used in the 431 declaration was further refined at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. However, the Chalcedon creed was not accepted by all Christians, because Saint Augustine died in 430 he did not participate in the Council of Ephesus in 431 or Chalcedon in 451, but his ideas had some impact on both councils. On the other hand, the major theological figure of the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680 held that both divine and human wills exist in Jesus, with the divine will having precedence, leading and guiding the human will. John Calvin maintained that there was no element in the Person of Christ which could be separated from the person of The Word. Calvin also emphasized the importance of the Work of Christ in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ, the study of the Person of Christ continued into the 20th century, with modern theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans von Balthasar. Balthasar argued that the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved not by the absorption of human attributes, thus in his view the divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine

3.
Cosmos
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The cosmos is the universe regarded as a complex and orderly system, the opposite of chaos. Cosmology is the study of the cosmos in several of the above meanings, all cosmologies have in common an attempt to understand the implicit order within the whole of being. In this way, most religions and philosophical systems have a cosmology, Cosmology is a branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of the universe, a theory or doctrine describing the natural order of the universe. The basic definition of Cosmology is the science of the origin, in modern astronomy the Big Bang theory is the dominant postulation. In physical cosmology, the cosmos is often used in a technical way. Our particular cosmos, the universe, is generally capitalized as the Cosmos. According to Charles Peter Mason in Sir William Smith Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Pythagoreans described the universe. It appears, in fact, from this, as well as from the extant fragments, the second book appears to have been an exposition of the nature of numbers, which in the Pythagorean theory are the essence and source of all things. In theology, the cosmos is the heavenly bodies. In Christian theology, the word is used synonymously with aion to refer to worldly life or this world or this age as opposed to the afterlife or World to Come. The book The works of Aristotle mentioned Aristotle says the poet Orpheus never existed, bertrand Russel noted The Orphics were an ascetic sect, wine, to them, was only a symbol, as, later, in the Christian sacrament. The intoxication that they sought was that of enthusiasm, of union with the god and they believed themselves, in this way, to acquire mystic knowledge not obtainable by ordinary means. This mystical element entered into Greek philosophy with Pythagoras, who was a reformer of Orphism as Orpheus was a reformer of the religion of Dionysus, from Pythagoras Orphic elements entered into the philosophy of Plato, and from Plato into most later philosophy that was in any degree religious. Cosmos – Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cosmos and Cosmic Law Greene, B, the Elegant Universe, Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Norton, New York Hawking, S. W, yulsman, T. Origins, The Quest for our Cosmic Roots

4.
God the Father
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God the Father is a title given to God in various religions, most prominently in Christianity. In mainstream trinitarian Christianity, God the Father is regarded as the first person of the Trinity, followed by the second person God the Son and the third person God the Holy Spirit. Since the second century, Christian creeds included affirmation of belief in God the Father, primarily as his capacity as Father and creator of the universe. While a religious teacher in one faith may be able to explain the concepts to his own audience with ease, many believe they can communicate with God and come closer to him through prayer – a key element of achieving communion with God. For instance, after completing his monumental work Summa Theologica, Catholic St. Thomas Aquinas concluded that he had not yet begun to understand ‘God the Father’. Although God is never addressed as Mother, at times motherly attributes may be interpreted in Old Testament references such as Isa 42,14, Isa 49, 14–15 or Isa 66. This passage clearly acknowledges the Jewish teachings on the uniqueness of God, over time, the Christian doctrine began to fully diverge from Judaism through the teachings of the Church Fathers in the second century and by the fourth century belief in the Trinity was formalized. Judaism In Judaism, God is described as Father as he is seen as the one, indivisible and incomparable, transcendent, immanent. The God in Judaism is the giver of the shabbath and the torahs—written, oral, mystical—to his chosen people. In Judaism, the use of the Father title is generally a metaphor, referring to the role as Life-giver and Law-giver, and is one of many titles by which Jews speak of and to God. The Jewish concept of God is similar to the Christian view, being that Christianity has Jewish roots, though there are some differences, and also the concept of God the Father in Biblical Judaism is generally more metaphorical. Islam The Islamic concept of God differs from the Christian and Jewish views, the father is not formally applied to God by Muslims. Also Muslims believe God is Wali, Wali means custodian, protector and helper. In Quran 9,23, Allah is more preferred to Father, also, Allah is called as Rahim. Rahim means both Merciful, Compassionate and Womb, Uterus Baháí Faith In the Baháí faith God is also addressed as father. Since the second century, creeds in the Western Church have included affirmation of belief in God the Father, the primary reference being to God in his capacity as Father and creator of the universe. This did not exclude either the fact the father of the universe was also the Father of Jesus the Christ or that he had even vouchsafed to adopt as his son by grace. Tertullian also discussed how the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, while the expression from the Father through the Son is also found among them

5.
Religious cosmology
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A religious cosmology is a way of explaining the origin, the history and the evolution of the cosmos or universe based on the religious mythology of a specific tradition. Religious cosmologies usually include an act or process of creation by a deity or a larger pantheon. The universe of the ancient Israelites was made up of a flat disc-shaped earth floating on water, heaven above, underworld below. In this period too the older three-level cosmology was widely replaced by the Greek concept of a spherical earth suspended in space at the centre of a number of concentric heavens. Around the time of Jesus or an earlier, the Greek idea that God had actually created matter replaced the older idea that matter had always existed. This concept, called creatio ex nihilo, is now the accepted orthodoxy of most denominations of Judaism, most denominations of Christianity and Judaism claim that a single, uncreated God was responsible for the creation of the cosmos. The Earths creation, according to Mormon scripture, was not ex nihilo, according to the King Follett discourse, God the Father himself once passed through mortality like Jesus did, but how, when, or where that took place is unclear. The prevailing view among Mormons is that God once lived on a planet, in Buddhism, the universe comes into existence dependent upon the actions of its inhabitants. The beings in these worlds are all coming into existence or being born, a world comes into existence when the first being in it is born, and ceases to exist, as such, when the last being in it dies. Other universes, however, also exist, and there are planes of existence which are never destroyed, though beings that live in them also come into. Islam teaches that God created the universe, including Earths physical environment, below here there are some other citations from the Quran on cosmology. And the heavens We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are expander,51,47 Sahih International Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together, before We clove them asunder. We made from water every living thing, the Rig Veda questions the origin of the cosmos in, Neither being nor non-being was as yet. And in whose protection. …Who really knows, whence was it born, and whence came this creation. The devas were born later than this worlds creation, so who knows from where it came into existence, none can know from where creation has arisen, and whether he has or has not produced it. He who surveys it in the highest heavens, he alone knows-or perhaps does not know. The Rig Vedas view of the cosmos also sees one true divine principle self-projecting as the word, Vaak, birthing the cosmos that we know. The Hiranyagarbha is alternatively viewed as Brahma, the creator who was in turn created by God, the creation begins anew after billions of years of non-existence

6.
Universe
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The Universe is all of time and space and its contents. It includes planets, moons, minor planets, stars, galaxies, the contents of intergalactic space, the size of the entire Universe is unknown. The earliest scientific models of the Universe were developed by ancient Greek and Indian philosophers and were geocentric, over the centuries, more precise astronomical observations led Nicolaus Copernicus to develop the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar System. In developing the law of gravitation, Sir Isaac Newton built upon Copernicuss work as well as observations by Tycho Brahe. Further observational improvements led to the realization that our Solar System is located in the Milky Way galaxy and it is assumed that galaxies are distributed uniformly and the same in all directions, meaning that the Universe has neither an edge nor a center. Discoveries in the early 20th century have suggested that the Universe had a beginning, the majority of mass in the Universe appears to exist in an unknown form called dark matter. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the Universe, under this theory, space and time emerged together 13. 799±0.021 billion years ago with a fixed amount of energy and matter that has become less dense as the Universe has expanded. After the initial expansion, the Universe cooled, allowing the first subatomic particles to form, giant clouds later merged through gravity to form galaxies, stars, and everything else seen today. Some physicists have suggested various multiverse hypotheses, in which the Universe might be one among many universes that likewise exist, the Universe can be defined as everything that exists, everything that has existed, and everything that will exist. According to our current understanding, the Universe consists of spacetime, forms of energy, the Universe encompasses all of life, all of history, and some philosophers and scientists suggest that it even encompasses ideas such as mathematics and logic. The word universe derives from the Old French word univers, which in turn derives from the Latin word universum, the Latin word was used by Cicero and later Latin authors in many of the same senses as the modern English word is used. Another synonym was ὁ κόσμος ho kósmos, synonyms are also found in Latin authors and survive in modern languages, e. g. the German words Das All, Weltall, and Natur for Universe. The same synonyms are found in English, such as everything, the cosmos, the world, the prevailing model for the evolution of the Universe is the Big Bang theory. The Big Bang model states that the earliest state of the Universe was extremely hot and dense, the model is based on general relativity and on simplifying assumptions such as homogeneity and isotropy of space. The Big Bang model accounts for such as the correlation of distance and redshift of galaxies, the ratio of the number of hydrogen to helium atoms. The initial hot, dense state is called the Planck epoch, after the Planck epoch and inflation came the quark, hadron, and lepton epochs. Together, these epochs encompassed less than 10 seconds of time following the Big Bang, the observed abundance of the elements can be explained by combining the overall expansion of space with nuclear and atomic physics. As the Universe expands, the density of electromagnetic radiation decreases more quickly than does that of matter because the energy of a photon decreases with its wavelength

7.
Mormonism
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Mormonism is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity. Joseph Smith founded the movement in Western New York in the 1820s, during the 1830s and 1840s, it distinguished itself from traditional Protestantism. Mormonism represents the non-Protestant faith taught by Smith in the 1840s, other sects include Mormon fundamentalism, which seeks to maintain practices and doctrines such as polygamy, and various other small independent denominations. The word Mormon originally derived from the Book of Mormon, a text published by Smith. The book describes itself as a chronicle of early peoples of the Americas. Based on the name of book, early followers of Smith were more widely known as Mormons. The term was considered pejorative, but Mormons no longer consider it so. It also accepts the Pearl of Great Price as part of its canon, and has a history of teaching eternal marriage, eternal progression. Cultural Mormonism, a lifestyle promoted by Mormon institutions, includes cultural Mormons who identify with the culture, Mormonism originated in the 1820s in western New York during a period of religious excitement known as the Second Great Awakening. After praying about which denomination he should join, Joseph Smith, called the First Vision, Smith claimed God the Father instructed him to join none of the existing churches because they were all wrong. Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and other followers, began baptizing new converts in 1829. Formally organized in 1830 as the Church of Christ, Smith was seen by his followers as a modern-day prophet. Joseph Smith claimed The Book of Mormon was translated from writing on plates in a reformed Egyptian language, translated with the assistance of the Urim and Thummim. Both the special spectacles and the stone were at times referred to as the Urim and Thummim. He said an angel first showed him the location of the plates in 1823, buried in a nearby hill, Smith began dictating the text of The Book of Mormon around the fall of 1827 until the summer of 1828 when 116 pages were lost. Translation began again in April 1829 and finished in June 1829, saying that he translated it by the gift, after the translation was completed, Smith said the plates were returned to the angel. During Smiths supposed possession, very few people were allowed to witness the plates, the book described itself as a chronicle of an early Israelite diaspora, becoming the indigenous peoples of the Americas, written by a people called the Nephites. According to The Book of Mormon, Lehis family left Jerusalem at the urging of God c.600 BC, the Nephites are described as descendants of Nephi, the fourth son of the prophet Lehi

8.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian restorationist church that is considered by its members to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations, according to the church, it has over 70,000 missionaries and a membership of over 15 million. It is ranked by the National Council of Churches as the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States and it is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith during the period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening. Adherents, often referred to as Latter-day Saints, or, less formally, Mormons, view faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement as fundamental principles of their religion. The church has a canon which includes four scriptural texts, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants. The current president is Thomas S. Monson, individual members of the church believe that they can also receive personal revelation from God in conducting their lives. The president heads a hierarchical structure with various levels reaching down to local congregations, Bishops, drawn from the laity, lead local congregations. Male members, after reaching age 12, may be ordained to the priesthood, Women do not hold positions within the priesthood, but do occupy leadership roles in some church auxiliary organizations. Both men and women may serve as missionaries, and the church maintains a large missionary program which proselytizes, faithful members adhere to church laws of sexual purity, health, fasting, and Sabbath observance, and contribute ten percent of their income to the church in tithing. The LDS Church was formally organized by Joseph Smith on April 6,1830, Smith intended to establish the New Jerusalem in North America, called Zion. In 1831, the moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri. However, in 1833, Missouri settlers brutally expelled the Latter Day Saints from Jackson County, the Kirtland era ended in 1838, after a financial scandal rocked the church and caused widespread defections. Smith regrouped with the church in Far West, Missouri. Believing the Saints to be in insurrection, the Missouri governor ordered that the Saints be exterminated or driven from the State, in 1839, the Saints converted a swampland on the banks of the Mississippi River into Nauvoo, Illinois, which became the churchs new headquarters. Nauvoo grew rapidly as missionaries sent to Europe and elsewhere gained new converts who then flooded into Nauvoo, meanwhile, Smith introduced polygamy to his closest associates. He also established ceremonies, which he stated the Lord had revealed to him, to allow people to become gods in the afterlife. He also introduced the church to an accounting of his First Vision. This vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in history since the resurrection of Jesus

9.
Mormon fundamentalism
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Mormon fundamentalists seek to uphold tenets and practices no longer held by mainstream Mormons. The principle most often associated with Mormon fundamentalism is plural marriage, a form of polygyny first taught in the Latter Day Saint movement by Joseph Smith, a second and closely associated principle is that of the United Order, a form of egalitarian communalism. Mormon fundamentalists believe that these and other principles were abandoned or changed by the LDS Church in its efforts to become reconciled with mainstream American society. Today, the LDS Church excommunicates any of its members who practice plural marriage or who otherwise closely associate themselves with Mormon fundamentalist practices, There is no single authority accepted by all Mormon fundamentalists, viewpoints and practices of individual groups vary. Fundamentalists have formed numerous small sects, often within cohesive and isolated communities in the Western United States, Western Canada, and northern Mexico. At times, sources have claimed there are as many as 60,000 Mormon fundamentalists in the United States, however, others have suggested that there may be as few as 20,000 Mormon fundamentalists with only 8,000 to 15,000 practicing polygamy. The largest Mormon fundamentalist groups are the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the LDS Church began prohibiting the contracting of plural marriages within the United States in 1890 after a decree by the president of the church, Wilford Woodruff. However, the practice continued underground in the U. S. and openly in Mormon colonies in northern Mexico and southern Alberta. According to some sources, many men in the United States continued to live with their plural wives with the approval of church presidents Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow. They make their argument based upon evidence and the fact that the Manifesto is not worded in accordance with similar revelations in the LDS scriptures. The LDS Church prevents any of its members who sympathize with Mormon fundamentalist teachings from entering its temples, during the 1920s, a church dissenter named Lorin C. Woolley claimed a line of priesthood authority from the LDS Churchs hierarchy. Most of the Mormon polygamous groups can trace their roots to Woolleys legacy, for the most part, the Utah state government has left the Mormon fundamentalists to themselves unless their practices violate laws other than those prohibiting bigamy. For example, there have been recent prosecutions of men who belong to fundamentalist groups for marrying underage girls, in one highly publicized case, a man and one of his polygamist wives lost custody of all but one of their children until the wife separated herself from her husband. The largest government effort to crack down on the practices of fundamentalist Mormons was carried out in 1953 in what is today Colorado City, Arizona, most Mormon fundamentalists embrace the term Fundamentalist. Mormon fundamentalists share certain commonalities with other fundamentalist movements, but also possess some clear distinctions of their own, in this view, ordination lineage becomes all-important and an external organization such as a church may lose its theological authority while the priesthood may continue via an alternative lineage. Mormon fundamentalists frequently assert that priesthood is prior to the Church, Mormon fundamentalists dislike the term polygamy and view polygyny as a term used only by outsiders. They also refer to plural marriage generically as the Principle, celestial marriage, the practice of plural marriage usually differs little from the manner in which it was practiced in the nineteenth century

10.
Restoration Church of Jesus Christ
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The Restoration Church of Jesus Christ, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, was a church in the Latter Day Saint movement that catered primarily to the spiritual needs of LGBT Latter Day Saints. The church was dissolved in 2010, the RCJC was sometimes informally called the Gay Mormon Church because of its overwhelmingly homosexual membership, although people of any sexual orientation could join. Feliz is a bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Feliz had also served as the Director of Church Welfare for what was called the Andean Region of the LDS Church during the 1970s. The RCJC had rotating general officers, at a church conference in Sacramento, California, in May 1987, Feliz resigned as president. He was succeeded by Robert McIntier, who served as president of the church from 1987 through at least 2009, the Hidden Treasures and Promises begins with a compilation of the Articles of Faith with insertions for inclusion of women and hymns composed by RCJC member John Crane. The second section of the work criticizes the LDS Church for refusing to send the Restored Gospel to our people—to the gay, the section calls for the furtherance of the Restored Gospel to the LGBT populace through the work of ordaining, calling, and setting-apart of missionaries. Altogether, the work consists of 58 sections of messages, unlike in the LDS Church, RCJC women could hold the priesthood. The Heavenly Mother was regarded as a member of the Godhead along with the Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ. Thus, the believed in a quadriune Godhead. The Heavenly Parents were worshiped in prayers given in the name of Jesus Christ, the priesthood leaders of the church were called general officers as in the Community of Christ, not general authorities as in the LDS Church. Rebaptism was not required for anyone who had been baptized in a Latter Day Saint church that can trace its authority back to Joseph Smith. When passing the sacrament, either water or grape juice was used, the Word of Wisdom was regarded as good advice, but not as an absolute requirement. The church counseled that it is best to consume meat in moderation, however, as in the LDS Church, it was popular to serve Jell-O, cake, and milk at church gatherings. Members were encouraged to store a one-year supply of food, the church practiced endowments, the law of adoption, and celestial marriage. In addition to marriage, the church also practiced same-sex marriage. The church believed in the practice of baptism for the dead, pamela J. Calkins, of Sacramento, was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the RCJC. Later, she entered into a polygamous homosexual betrothal sealing in advance of a marriage with three female partners, thus becoming the first women in Mormondom to do so

11.
Brighamite
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The denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement are sometimes collectively referred to as Mormonism. Denominations opposed to the use of the term consider it to be connected to the polygamy practiced by the Utah church. It was renamed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1838, the largest denomination within the contemporary movement is the LDS Church with 15 million members. It is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and uses the term Latter-day Saints to describe itself, the second-largest denomination is the Community of Christ, a Missouri-based,250, 000-member denomination. Other denominations within the movement either formed around various would-be successors to Smith and these, together with the two denominations listed above, are detailed in the table of denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement, below. Though a few small factions broke with Smiths organization during his lifetime, following Smiths death, the movement experienced a leadership crisis which led to a schism within the church. The largest group, which would become the LDS Church, followed Brigham Young, settling in what would become the Utah Territory, the second-largest faction, the RLDS Church, coalesced around Joseph Smith III, eldest son of Joseph Smith. Other would-be leaders included the surviving member of the First Presidency, Sidney Rigdon, the newly baptized James Strang from Wisconsin. Each of these men still retains a following as of 2014—however tiny it may be in some cases—and all of their organizations have experienced further schisms, other claimants, such as Granville Hedrick, William Bickerton and Charles B. Thompson, later emerged to start still other factions, some of which have further subdivided, given the large number of Latter Day Saint churches and their differing backgrounds, categorizing them can be difficult. Another method uses provenance, for instance, all denominations that ultimately trace their history back to the LDS Church in Utah are organized as one factional group, Divergent Paths of the Restoration—a reference work on this subject—follows this approach. Those denominations within each group share a common ancestry and basic beliefs that are different from groups sharing other provenances, Joseph Smiths original church, and those bodies which broke with him during his lifetime. The original organization, founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, later called the Church of the Latter Day Saints, other small churches formed on the basis of disagreements with Smith prior to his murder in 1844, all of which are now defunct. Sometimes called Rocky Mountain Saints, Brighamites, or Mormons, tracing their leadership or influence through Brigham Young, by far the largest and best known Latter Day Saint church, which is colloquially, but imprecisely, referred to as the Mormon Church. The defunct Godbeites and a few small churches that broke with the LDS Church to pursue a more liberal, inclusive. These adherents are referred to, collectively, as Prairie Saints. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and related churches tracing their leadership through Joseph Smith III, the Church of Christ and related churches tracing their leadership through Granville Hedrick. Churches tracing their leadership through Sidney Rigdon or William Bickerton, the Church of Jesus Christ and related churches tracing their leadership through Alpheus Cutler

12.
Latter Day Saint movement
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The Latter Day Saint movement is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 15 million members, the vast majority of adherents belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with their predominant theology being Mormonism. The LDS Church self-identifies as Christian, based on the teachings of this book and other revelations, Smith founded a Christian primitivist church, called the Church of Christ. The Book of Mormon attracted hundreds of followers, who later became known as Mormons, Latter Day Saints. In 1831, Smith moved the headquarters to Kirtland, Ohio. After the church in Ohio collapsed due to dissensions, in 1838, Smith and the body of the moved to Missouri. After Smiths death in 1844, a crisis led to the organization splitting into several groups. The largest of these, the LDS Church, migrated under the leadership of Brigham Young to the Great Basin, the LDS Church officially renounced this practice in 1890, and gradually discontinued it, resulting in the Utah Territory becoming a U. S. state. This change resulted in the formation of a number of small sects who sought to maintain polygamy and other 19th-century Mormon doctrines and practices, other groups originating within the Latter Day Saint movement followed different paths in Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. For the most part these groups rejected plural marriage and some of Smiths later teachings, the largest of these, the Community of Christ, was formed in Illinois in 1860 by several groups uniting around Smiths son, Joseph Smith III. Most existing denominations that adhere to the teachings of Smith have some relationship with the movement. The driving force behind and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement was Joseph Smith, Smith and Cowdery also explained that the angels John the Baptist, Peter, James, and John visited them in 1829 and gave them priesthood authority to reestablish the Church of Christ. The first Latter Day Saint church was formed on April 6,1830, consisting of a community of believers in the western New York towns of Fayette, Manchester, the church was formally organized under the name of the Church of Christ. In 1844, William Law and several other Latter Day Saints in church leadership positions publicly denounced Smiths secret practice of polygamy in the Nauvoo Expositor, the city council of Nauvoo, Illinois, led by Smith, subsequently had the printing press of the Expositor destroyed. In spite of Smiths later offer to pay damages for destroyed property, critics of Smith, some called for the Latter Day Saints to be either expelled or destroyed. These various claims resulted in a succession crisis, many supported Brigham Young, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, others Sidney Rigdon, the senior surviving member of the First Presidency. These various groups are referred to under two geographical headings, Prairie Saints and Rocky Mountain Saints. Today, the vast majority of Latter Day Saints belong to the Utah-based The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the second-largest denomination is the Missouri-based Community of Christ which reports over 250,000 members

13.
Biblical cosmology
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Biblical cosmology is the biblical writers conception of the cosmos as an organised, structured entity, including its origin, order, meaning and destiny. The Bible was formed over centuries, involving many authors. The ancient Israelites envisaged a universe made up of a flat disc-shaped earth floating on water, heaven above, underworld below. In this period too the older three-level cosmology in large measure gave way to the Greek concept of a spherical earth suspended in space at the center of a number of concentric heavens. Later Jewish thinkers, adopting ideas from Greek philosophy, concluded that Gods Wisdom, Word and Spirit penetrated all things and gave them unity. Christianity in turn adopted these ideas and identified Jesus with the word, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. Two different models of the process of creation existed in ancient Israel, in this world-view the seas are primordial forces of disorder, and the work of creation is preceded by a divine combat. The Genesis creation narrative is the quintessential logos creation myth, like the agon model it begins with darkness and the uncreated primordial ocean, God separates and restrains the waters, but he does not create them from nothing. God initiates each creative act with a word, and finalises it with the giving of a name. Creation by speech is not unique to the Old Testament, it is not emphasized in Mesopotamian cosmological thinking, in the ancient world, things did not exist until they were named, The name of a living being or an object was. The very essence of what was defined, and the pronouncing of a name was to create what was spoken. Borrowing ideas from Greek philosophers who held that reason bound the universe together, Christianity in turn adopted these ideas and applied them to Jesus, the Epistle to the Colossians calls Jesus. image of the invisible God, first-born of all creation. While the Gospel of John identifies him with the creative word, the Hebrew Bible imagined a three-part world, with the heavens above, earth in the middle, and the underworld below. The cosmic sea is the home of monsters which God conquers, By his power he stilled the sea, the bronze sea which stood in the forecourt of the Temple in Jerusalem probably corresponds to the sea in Babylonian temples, representing the apsu, the cosmic ocean. In the Old Testament the word represented both the sky/atmosphere, and the dwelling place of God. The raqia or firmament - the visible sky - was an inverted bowl over the earth. Rain, snow, wind and hail were kept in storehouses outside the raqia, which had windows to allow them in - the waters for Noahs flood entered when the windows of heaven were opened. Heaven extended down to and was coterminous with the farthest edges of the earth, humans looking up from earth saw the floor of heaven, grammatically the word shamayim can be either dual or plural, without ruling out the singular

14.
Joseph Smith
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Joseph Smith Jr. was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon, by the time of his death fourteen years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religious culture that continues to the present. In 1830, Smith published what he said was an English translation of these plates, the same year he organized the Church of Christ, calling it a restoration of the early Christian church. Members of the church were later called Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, in 1831, Smith and his followers moved west, planning to build a communalistic American Zion. They first gathered in Kirtland, Ohio, and established an outpost in Independence, Missouri, during the 1830s, Smith sent out missionaries, published revelations, and supervised construction of the expensive Kirtland Temple. In 1844, Smith and the Nauvoo city council angered non-Mormons by destroying a newspaper that had criticized Smiths power, after Smith was imprisoned in Carthage, Illinois, he was killed when a mob stormed the jailhouse. Smith published many revelations and other texts that his followers regard as scripture and his teachings include unique views about the nature of God, cosmology, family structures, political organization, and religious collectivism. Joseph Smith Jr. was born on December 23,1805, in Sharon, Vermont, to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph Sr. a merchant, after suffering a crippling bone infection when he was seven, the younger Smith used crutches for three years. During the Second Great Awakening, the region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm, although Smiths parents disagreed about religion, the family was caught up in this excitement. Smith later said he became interested in religion at about the age of twelve, he participated in church classes, as a teenager, he may have been sympathetic to Methodism. With other family members, Smith also engaged in folk magic. Both his parents and his grandfather reportedly had visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God. Smith said that although he had become concerned about the welfare of his soul, years later Smith said that in 1820 he had received a vision that resolved his religious confusion. While praying in an area near his home, he said that God, in a vision, had told him his sins were forgiven. Smith said he told the experience to a preacher, who dismissed the story with contempt, but the experience was largely unknown, even to most Mormons, until the 1840s. Although Smith may have understood the event as a conversion, this First Vision later grew in importance among Mormons. Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because the angel prevented him, Smith reported that during the next four years, he made annual visits to the hill but each time returned without the plates. Meanwhile, the Smith family faced financial hardship due in part to the November 1823 death of Smiths oldest brother Alvin, Family members supplemented their meager farm income by hiring out for odd jobs and working as treasure seekers, a type of magical supernaturalism common during the period

15.
Community of Christ
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Community of Christ is an American-based international church with roots in the Latter Day Saint movement. The church reports approximately over 250,000 members in 60 nations, the church traces its origins to Joseph Smiths establishment of the Church of Christ on April 6,1830, with the church formally reorganizing on April 6,1860, following the death of Smith in 1844. The Community of Christ is rooted in Restorationist traditions, although in some respects it is congruent with mainline Protestant Christian attitudes, it is in many ways theologically distinct, continuing such features as prophetic revelation. It is the second-largest denomination within the Latter Day Saint movement, Community of Christ follows a largely non-liturgical tradition based loosely on the Revised Common Lectionary. From its headquarters in Independence, Missouri, the church offers a focus on evangelism, peace and justice ministries, spirituality and wholeness, youth ministries. Church teachings emphasize that all are called as persons of worth to share the peace of Christ, the church was legally organized on April 6,1830, in Fayette, New York. The formal reorganization occurred on April 6,1860, in Amboy, Illinois, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, adding the word Reorganized to the church name in 1872. The Community of Christ today considers the period from 1830 to 1844 to be a part of its history and from 1844. Since 1844, the doctrines and practices of the Community of Christ have evolved separately from the denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Since the 1960s, the churchs proselytizing outside North America forced a re-assessment, howard estimated that 25,000 members had left to join such groups. Between the mid-1960s and the late 1990s, there was a decline in new baptisms in the United States along with a 50 percent drop in contributions in the decade before 1998. The church owns two temples, the Kirtland Temple, dedicated in 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio, and the relatively new Independence Temple and these structures are open to the public and are also used for education and gatherings. The church also owns and operates some Latter Day Saint historic sites in Lamoni, Iowa, the Auditorium in Independence houses the Childrens Peace Pavilion and is the site of the major legislative assembly of the Community of Christ, which convenes during the World Conference. The church sponsors Graceland University, with a campus in Lamoni and another in Independence, where the School of Nursing, in its mission statement, the church declares that e proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love and peace. The vision statement states that We will become a church dedicated to the pursuit of peace, reconciliation. The Community of Christ states that it recognizes that perception of truth is qualified by human nature and experience. Nevertheless, the Community of Christ offers a number of the commonly held beliefs of its members and leaders as the generally accepted beliefs of the church. As Stephen M. Veazey, current president of the church states, the Community of Christ generally accepts the doctrine of the Trinity and other commonly held Christian beliefs

16.
Spirit
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The English word spirit, from Latin spiritus breath, has many different meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. It can also refer to a subtle as opposed to gross material substance, the word spirit is often used metaphysically to refer to the consciousness or personality. e. A manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person, the term may also refer to any incorporeal or immaterial being, such as demons or deities. In the Bible, the Spirit, specifically denotes the Holy Spirit, the English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath, but also spirit, soul, courage, vigor, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *peis. It is distinguished from Latin anima, soul, in Greek, this distinction exists between pneuma, breath, motile air, spirit, and psykhē, soul. The word spirit came into Middle English via Old French, the distinction between soul and spirit also developed in the Abrahamic religions, Arabic nafs opposite rūħ, Hebrew neshama or nephesh נֶ֫פֶשׁ‎ nép̄eš opposite ruach. In a lecture delivered to the literary Society of Augsburg, October 20,1926, on the theme of “Nature and Spirit, the mistrust of verbal concepts, inconvenient as it is, nevertheless seems to me to be very much in place in speaking of fundamentals. Spirit and Life are familiar enough words to us, very old acquaintances in fact, pawns that for thousands of years have pushed back. It can scarcely be an accident onomatopoeic words like ruach, ruch, roho mean ‘spirit’ no less clearly than the Greek πνεύμα and the Latin spiritus”. In spiritual and metaphysical terms, spirit has acquired a number of meanings, An incorporeal but ubiquitous, unlike the concept of souls a spirit develops and grows as an integral aspect of a living being. This concept of the individual spirit occurs commonly in animism, note the distinction between this concept of spirit and that of the pre-existing or eternal soul, belief in souls occurs specifically and far less commonly, particularly in traditional societies. One might more properly term this type/aspect of spirit life or aether rather than spirit, people usually conceive of a ghost as a wandering spirit from a being no longer living, having survived the death of the body yet maintaining at least vestiges of mind and consciousness. In religion and spirituality, the respiration of a human has for obvious reasons become seen as linked with the very occurrence of life. A similar significance has become attached to human blood, Spirit, in this sense, means the thing that separates a living body from a corpse—and usually implies intelligence, consciousness, and sentience. Latter-day Saint prophet Joseph Smith Jr. taught that the concept of spirit as incorporeal or without substance was incorrect, all spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes. In some Native American spiritual traditions the Great Spirit or Wakan Tanka is a term for the Supreme Being, individual spirits envisaged as interconnected with all other spirits and with The Spirit. This concept relates to theories of a unified spirituality, to universal consciousness, the experience of such a connection can become a primary basis for spiritual belief. Christian spiritual theology can use the term Spirit to describe God, or aspects of God — as in the Holy Spirit, Spirit forms a central concept in pneumatology

17.
Satan
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Satan is a figure appearing in the texts of the Abrahamic religions who brings evil and temptation, and is known as the deceiver who leads humanity astray. In the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, Satan is primarily an accuser and adversary, a malevolent entity, also called the devil. Although Satan is generally viewed as having negative characteristics, some groups have different beliefs. In Theistic Satanism, Satan is considered a deity who is either worshipped or revered, in LaVeyan Satanism, Satan is a symbol of virtuous characteristics and liberty. The original Hebrew term satan is a noun from a verb meaning primarily to obstruct, oppose, as it is found in Numbers 22,22,1 Samuel 29,4, ha-Satan is traditionally translated as the accuser or the adversary. The definite article ha- is used to show that this is a title bestowed on a being, thus, this being would be referred to as the satan. Ha-Satan with the definite article occurs 13 times in the Masoretic Text, in two books of the Hebrew Bible, Job ch. 1–2 and Zechariah 3, 1–2. 32 behold, I went out to thee,1 Samuel 29,4 The Philistines say, lest he be an adversary against us 2 Samuel 19,22 David says. 1 Kings 5,4 Solomon writes to Hiram, there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent, when the angels present themselves to God, Satan comes as well. God informs Satan about Jobs blameless, morally upright character, God therefore gives Satan permission to test Job. In the end, Job remains faithful and righteous, and there is the implication that Satan is shamed in his defeat, some scholars see contact with religious dualism in Babylon, and early Zoroastrianism in particular, as influencing Second Temple Judaism, and consequently early Christianity. Subsequent development of Satan as a deceiver has parallels with the spirit in Zoroastrianism, known as the Lie. In the Septuagint, the Hebrew ha-Satan in Job and Zechariah is translated by the Greek word diabolos, the Book of Enoch contains references to Satariel, thought also to be Sataniel and Satanel. The similar spellings mirror that of his angelic brethren Michael, Raphael, Uriel, the Second Book of Enoch, also called the Slavonic Book of Enoch, contains references to a Watcher called Satanael. It is a text of an uncertain date and unknown authorship. The text describes Satanael as being the prince of the Grigori who was cast out of heaven, a similar story is found in the book of 1 Enoch, however, in that book, the leader of the Grigori is called Semjâzâ. In the Book of Wisdom, the devil is represented as the being who brought death into the world, in the Book of Jubilees, Mastema induces God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac. He is identical to Satan in both name and nature, in Judaism, the term satan used since its earliest biblical contexts to refer to a human opponent

18.
Heavenly host
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Heavenly host refers to the army of angels mentioned both in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, as well as other Jewish and Christian texts. Several descriptions of angels in the Bible describe them in terms, such as encampment, command structure. The heavenly host participate in the War in Heaven, in the Book of Joshua 5, 13-15, Joshua encounters a captain of the host of the Lord in the early days of his campaigns in the Promised Land. Cherubim are depicted as accompanying Gods chariot-throne, exodus 25, 18-22 refers to statues of two cherubim placed on top of the Ark of the Covenant. J. A. Motyer writes, the cherbim overshadowing the ark were a pedestal for the throne of the invisible God. Other guard-like duties include being posted in locations such as the gates of Eden, cherubim were mythological winged bulls or other beasts that were part of ancient Near Eastern traditions. This designation might be given to angels of various ranks, an example would be Raphael who is ranked variously as a Seraph, Cherub, and Archangel. This is usually a result of conflicting schemes of hierarchies of angels, in Revelation 5,11 a figure of ten thousand times ten thousand is given for the number of many angels in a circle around the throne, as well as the living creatures and the elders. In the Book of Revelation, the forces of Satan are defeated by the Heavenly Host led by Michael the Archangel during the War in Heaven. This name is transliterated in Latin as Sabaoth, a form that will be more familiar to many English readers. The term Lord of Hosts is also used in the Baháí Faith as a title of God, in the English epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton, the Archangel Michael commands the army of angels loyal to God against the rebel forces of Satan. Armed with a sword from Gods armory, he bests Satan in personal combat, astrolatry Divine Council Hierarchy of Angels

19.
Plan of salvation (Latter Day Saints)
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According to doctrine of the Latter Day Saint movement, the plan of salvation is a plan that God created to save, redeem, and exalt humankind. The first appearance of the representation of the plan of salvation is in the 1952 missionary manual entitled A Systematic Program for Teaching the Gospel. In the 1840s, Joseph Smith stated that the human spirit existed with God before the creation of Earth, thus, Latter-day Saints believe in a pre-mortal existence, in which people are literally the spirit children of God. Latter-Day Saints often point to Jeremiah 1,5 as one example of evidence in the Bible for a pre-earth existence and this teaching is primarily based however upon revealed doctrine by Joseph Smith and others in the early years of the Church. This may explain the Churchs teaching that man and God are co-eternal, within Latter-day beliefs, God is looked upon as both creator and Heavenly Father. During this pre-mortal existence, Heavenly Father presented the plan to His children. There they would receive a physical body necessary to exaltation and a fullness of joy, on earth, they would be tested through trials of their faith, and be subject to mortality. However, because each persons experience in mortality is unique, every individual will be judged in accordance with the opportunities, knowledge, no human would ever have their freedom taken away in an attempt to force righteous behavior. People would be free to do evil and good, both to themselves and to those around them and he also agreed to die and be resurrected, thus making it possible for all individuals to be resurrected. The Holy Spirit would be sent to encourage righteous behavior and guide human beings towards Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, but would never interfere with freedom. Also part of the plan was a foreordination of prophets and teachers who would have gifts, yet they also understood that there would be opportunities before the final judgment for every child of God to hear of Jesus Christ and to either accept Him or reject Him. He loves each of them unconditionally and desires that they progress, knowing that this leads to greater happiness, after Heavenly Father presented this plan, Lucifer volunteered to save mankind by taking away mans agency. Nobody would be able to fail the test and so, Lucifer claimed, as recompense for the implementation of his plan, Lucifer demanded that the power and the glory which Heavenly Father possessed be transferred to him, effectively making him God. However, as Lucifer alone would have freedom of choice under his plan. Heavenly Father countered that this would make the test worthless, and knew Lucifer sought only power, enraged, Lucifer chose to rebel against Heavenly Father and rallied to him a third part of Heavenly Fathers children who also preferred Lucifers plan. The two factions warred, and Lucifer and his followers were cast out of Heaven, Lucifer became Satan, and those who followed him became fallen and they were denied the right to have their own physical bodies but were not affected by the veil. Latter-day Saint beliefs include the general Christian belief in a world between death and the resurrection. The Latter-day Saints believe that the Final Judgment of mankind will occur after the resurrection

20.
Jehovah
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Jehovah is a Latinization of the Hebrew יְהֹוָה‎, one vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יהוה‎, the proper name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible. The consensus among scholars is that the historical vocalization of the Tetragrammaton at the time of the redaction of the Torah is most likely Yahweh. The historical vocalization was lost because in Second Temple Judaism, during the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE, the Hebrew vowel points of Adonai were added to the Tetragrammaton by the Masoretes, and the resulting form was transliterated around the 12th century as Yehowah. The derived forms Iehouah and Jehovah first appeared in the 16th century, Jehovah was popularized in the English-speaking world by William Tyndale and other pioneer English Protestant translations such as the Geneva Bible and the King James Version. Most scholars believe Jehovah to be a form derived by combining the Latin letters JHVH with the vowels of Adonai. Some hold that there is evidence that a form of the Tetragrammaton similar to Jehovah may have been in use in Semitic, others say that it is the pronunciation Yahweh that is testified in both Christian and pagan texts of the early Christian era. They also point out that the English form Jehovah is quite simply an Anglicized form of Yehovah, dennio, in an article he wrote, in the Journal of Biblical Literature, said, Jehovah misrepresents Yahweh no more than Jeremiah misrepresents Yirmeyahu. The settled connotations of Isaiah and Jeremiah forbid questioning their right, according to a Jewish tradition developed during the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE, the Tetragrammaton is written but not pronounced. When read, substitute terms replace the name where יְהֹוָה‎ appears in the text. Based on this reasoning, the form יְהֹוָה‎ has been characterized by some as a hybrid form and this form, which first took effect in works dated 1278 and 1303, was adopted in Tyndales and some other Protestant translations of the Bible. In the 1560 Geneva Bible, the Tetragrammaton is translated as Jehovah six times, four as the proper name, in the 1611 King James Version, Jehovah occurred seven times. In the 1885 English Revised Version, the form Jehovah occurs twelve times and it is also used in Christian hymns such as the 1771 hymn, Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah. The most widespread theory is that the Hebrew term יְהֹוָה‎ has the points of אֲדֹנָי‎. Taking the spellings at face value may have been as a result of not knowing about the Qre perpetuum, resulting in the transliteration Yehowah, emil G. Hirsch was among the modern scholars that recognized Jehovah to be grammatically impossible. יְהֹוָה‎ appears 6,518 times in the traditional Masoretic Text, the pronunciation Jehovah is believed to have arisen through the introduction of vowels of the qere—the marginal notation used by the Masoretes. For a few frequent words the marginal note was omitted, referred to as qre perpetuum. One of these frequent cases was Gods name, which was not to be pronounced in fear of profaning the ineffable name. Instead, wherever יהוה appears in the kethib of the biblical and liturgical books, it was to be read as אֲדֹנָי‎ and this combination produces יְהֹוָה‎ and יֱהֹוִה‎ respectively

21.
Pre-existence of Christ
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The doctrine of the pre-existence of Christ asserts the ontological or personal existence of Christ before his incarnation. One of the relevant Bible passages is John 1, 1–18 where, in the Trinitarian interpretation, there are other non-Trinitarian views that question the aspect of personal pre-existence or the aspect of divinity or both. This doctrine is reiterated in John 17,5 when Jesus refers to the glory which he had with the Father before the world was during the Farewell Discourse, John 17,24 also refers to the Father loving Jesus before the foundation of the world. The concept of the pre-existence of Christ is a tenet of the doctrine of the Trinity. Theologian Bernard Ramm noted that It has been teaching in historic Christology that the Logos. That the Son so existed before the incarnation has been called the pre-existence of Christ, other aspects of Christology explore the incarnation of this Divine being as the man Jesus. In the words of the Nicene Creed, Christ came down from heaven, some Protestant theologians believe that God the Son emptied himself of divine attributes in order to become human, in a process called kenosis, while others reject this. In some Early Christian sarcophagi, the Logos is distinguished with a beard, for example, Tertullian in Against Marcion Ch.21 sees a pre-existent appearance of Christ in the fiery furnace of one who is like the son of man. The identification of specific appearances of Christ is increasingly common in literature from the 1990s onwards. For example, W. Terry Whalin states that the person in the fiery furnace is Christ. Other non-Trinitarian Christians with belief in pre-existence may have different or similar interpretations of such verses, orthodox Christian faith believes that Jesus of Nazareth was personally identical with the eternally pre-existent Son of God or Logos. His personal being did not originate when his visible human history began and he did not come into existence as a new person around 5 BC. He exists personally as the eternal Son of God, to adopt tensed language from Nicaea I and state that Christ always existed could easily be misleading. Through sharing in the attribute of eternity he exists timelessly. Even the classical definition of eternity left by Boethius, interminabilis vitae tota simul et perfecta possessio, all-at-once positively and endless negatively recall time and temporal duration. Eternity and eternal life, however, are not to be reduced to any such temporal duration and these considerations also show up some dangers in the very term pre-existence. To speak of the Son of God as pre-existing his incarnation and even the creation of the world could be taken to imply a before and after for his personal. Hence, one strains language when one speaks of the Logos personally existing and being active before the incarnation and it is another question with the humanity assumed at the virginal conception

22.
Resurrection of the dead
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Predominantly in Christian eschatology, the term is used to support the belief that the dead will be brought back to life in connection with end times. Various other forms of this concept can also be found in other eschatologies, namely, Islamic, Jewish, early Christian church fathers defended the resurrection of the dead against the pagan belief that the immortal soul went to the underworld immediately after death. Currently, however, it is a popular Christian belief that the souls of the go to Heaven. At the close of the period, the modern era brought a shift in Christian thinking from an emphasis on the resurrection of the body back to the immortality of the soul. This shift was a result of a change in the zeitgeist, as a reaction to the Renaissance, andré Dartigues has observed that especially “from the 17th to the 19th century, the language of popular piety no longer evoked the resurrection of the soul but everlasting life. Although theological textbooks still mentioned resurrection, they dealt with it as a question more than as an existential problem. ”This shift was supported not by any scripture. Deism allowed for a supreme being, such as the philosophical first cause, Deism, which was largely led by rationality and reason, could allow a belief in the immortality of the soul, but not necessarily in the resurrection of the dead. In Christian theology, it was widely believed that to rise on Judgment Day the body had to be whole. An Act of Parliament from the reign of King Henry VIII stipulated that only the corpses of executed murderers could be used for dissection, restricting the supply to the cadavers of murderers was seen as an extra punishment for the crime. If one believes dismemberment stopped the possibility of resurrection of a body on judgment day. Attitudes towards this issue changed very slowly in the United Kingdom and were not manifested in law until the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832. For much of the British population it was not until the 20th century that the link between the body and resurrection was finally broken as cremation was only legal in 1902. The Gospel of Matthew introduces the expression ἀναστάσεως τῶν νεκρῶν, which is used in a monologue by Jesus who speaks to the crowds about the resurrection called simply, ῇ ἀναστάσει. This type of resurrection refers to the raising up the dead, all men, at the end of this present age, in Acts of the Apostles the expression ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν was used by the Apostles and Paul the Apostle to defend the doctrine of the resurrection. Paul brought up the resurrection in his trial before Ananias ben Nedebaios, the expression was variously used in reference to a general resurrection at the end of this present age. In the First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 15, ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν is used for the resurrection of the dead. In vv.54,55, Paul the Apostle is conveyed as quoting from the book of Hosea 13,14 where he speaks of the abolition of death, by rendering Sheol powerless would mean to loosen its hold on those in it, implying the emptying of gravedom. Using the Sign of Jonah in Mathew 16 and Luke 11, in Acts of the Apostles chapters 4,17,23 and 24, the Apostles and Paul of Tarsus argued in support of the doctrine

23.
Degrees of glory
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In Mormon theology, there are three degrees of glory which are the ultimate, eternal dwelling place for nearly all who lived on earth after they are resurrected from the spirit world. Mormons believe that Paul the Apostle briefly described these degrees of glory in 1 Corinthians 15, 40-42, Joseph Smith elaborated on Pauls descriptions based primarily upon a vision he received with Sidney Rigdon in 1832 and recorded as Doctrine and Covenants section 76. A small number of individuals who commit the unpardonable sin will not receive a kingdom of glory, the three degrees of glory are most clearly described in section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants. In the preface to section 76, the explanatory text is given, A vision given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon, at Hiram, Ohio. Prefacing the record of this vision, Joseph Smith’s history states, Upon my return from Amherst conference, I resumed the translation of the Scriptures. From sundry revelations which had received, it was apparent that many important points touching the salvation of man had been taken from the Bible. While translating St. Johns Gospel, myself and Elder Rigdon saw the following vision, at the time this vision was given, the Prophet was translating John 5,29. Assignment to a kingdom in the resurrection is contingent upon the faith. The LDS Church teaches that these different kingdoms are what Jesus was referring to when he said n my Fathers house are many mansions. Additionally, the LDS Church teaches that 1 Corinthians 15, 40–41 speaks of three degrees of glory, comparing them with the glory of the sun, moon. 11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, however, this doctrine of three heavenly kingdoms also appears in the writings of St. That is to say, there is place for both heavenly and earthy men according to their virtue, their knowledge and the degree of deification that they have attained. In addition to St. Gregory of Sinai, in the Byzantine tradition and this is the significance of the phrase, Star differs from star in glory. The celestial kingdom is the highest of the three degrees of glory, the celestial kingdom will be the residence of those who have been righteous, accepted the teachings of Jesus Christ, and made and lived up to all of the required ordinances and covenants. All children who die before the age of eight automatically inherit the kingdom without the reception of ordinances. The celestial kingdom is the permanent residence of God the Father, Joseph Smith taught that a white stone is given to each of those who come into the celestial kingdom, whereon is a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it. This white stone will become a Urim and Thummim to the recipient, Joseph Smith taught that the celestial kingdom itself is subdivided into three heavens or degrees. Only those individuals who are sealed in marriage to a spouse will be permitted to enter into the highest degree of celestial kingdom

24.
Lorenzo Snow
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Lorenzo Snow was an American religious leader who served as the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1898 to his death. Snow was the last president of the LDS Church in the nineteenth century, Lorenzo had siblings Leonora Abigail Snow, Eliza R. Snow, Percy Amanda Snow, Melissa Snow, Lucius Augustus Snow, and Samuel Pearce Snow. Despite the labor required on the farm, the Snow family valued learning, Snow received his final year of education at Oberlin College, which was founded by two Presbyterian ministers. Snow later made his living as a teacher when not engaged in church service. In 1831, Joseph Smith, the Latter Day Saint prophet, took up residence in Hiram, Ohio, the Snow family was Baptist, but soon took a strong interest in the new religious movement. Snow recorded that he heard the Book of Mormon being read aloud in his home in Mantua, by 1835, Snows mother and his older sister Eliza, had joined the Latter Day Saint church. Eliza soon moved to the headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. She, in her biography of Snow, claims to have fostered his interest in Mormonism while he was at Oberlin, Eliza invited Snow to visit her and attend a school of Hebrew newly established by the church. During his visit there, in June 1836, Snow was baptized by John F. Boynton, while living in Kirtland in 1837, Snow was called to serve a short mission in Ohio, traveling without purse or scrip. He recorded that relying on the kindness of others for his meals and lodging was difficult for him, when he returned to Kirtland in 1838, Snow found Smiths followers in turmoil over the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society. Snow and the members of his family chose to move to Missouri in the summer of 1838. Snow became seriously ill with a fever, and was nursed for several weeks by his sister Eliza, on his recovery, Snow left for a second mission to Illinois and Kentucky in the fall of 1838. He served there through February 1839, when he learned that the Latter Day Saints had been expelled from their settlements in Missouri and he traveled home by way of his former mission area in Ohio. He was again ill and was cared for by members of the church. He remained in Ohio, preaching and working with church members until the fall of 1839, during the school year of 1839–40, Snow taught in Shalersville, Ohio. He sent money to his family, which had by then settled in Nauvoo, Illinois, shortly after he arrived in Nauvoo, Snow was asked to serve a mission in England. After an unpleasant sea voyage from New York City, Snow met with some of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve who had opened the British Mission in 1839, including Brigham Young, Heber C. Snow worked briefly in the Manchester area, and had success in Birmingham, Snow was assigned to preside over church members in London

25.
Ex nihilo
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Ex nihilo is a Latin phrase meaning out of nothing. In theology, the common phrase creatio ex nihilo, contrasts with creatio ex materia, Creatio continua is the ongoing divine creation. The phrase ex nihilo also appears in the classical philosophical formulation ex nihilo nihil fit, when used outside of religious or metaphysical contexts ex nihilo also refers to something coming from nothing. For example, in a conversation, one might raise a topic ex nihilo if it bears no relation to the topic of discussion. An early conflation of Greek philosophy with the narratives in the Hebrew Bible came from Philo of Alexandria, Philo equated the Hebrew creator-deity Yahweh with Aristotles primum movens in an attempt to prove that the Jews had held monotheistic views even before the Greeks. Theologians debate whether the Bible itself teaches creation ex nihilo, traditional interpreters argue on grammatical and syntactical grounds that this is the meaning of Genesis 1,1, which is commonly rendered, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. However, other interpreters understand creation ex nihilo as a theological development. According to this view, church fathers opposed notions appearing in pre-Christian creation myths, Jewish thinkers took up the idea, which became important to Judaism, to ongoing strands in the Christian tradition, and—as a corollary—to Islam. The first sentence of the Greek version of Genesis in the Septuagint starts with the words, ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν, many ancient texts tend to have similar issues, and those on each side tend to interpret the text according to their understanding. Therefore, an uncaused, personal creator of the universe exists, who without the universe is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless, If it is possible for nothing to be, then it must be possible for everything to be. Some scholars have argued that Plethon viewed Plato as positing ex nihilo creation in his Timaeus, eric Voegelin detects in Hesiods chaos a creatio ex nihilo. The School of Chartres understood the creation account in Platos Timaeus to refer to creatio ex nihilo, in The Book of the Articles of Faith and Doctrines of Dogma written by Saadia Gaon the metaphysical problems of the creation of the world and the unity of the Creator are discussed. In this book, Saadia Gaon gives four proofs for the doctrine of the creation of the ex nihilo. To harmonize the biblical statement of the ex nihilo with the doctrine of the primordial elements, the Sefer Yetzirah assumes a double creation, one ideal. The cosmogony of Sefer Yetzirah is even omitted from the discussion of creation in his magnum opus Emunoth ve-Deoth. Several schools of thought stemming from the first cause argument, the following quotations come from Muhammad Asads translation, The Message of The Quran,52,35, Were they created by nothing. Or were they themselves the creators,2,117, The Originator is He of the heavens and the earth, and when He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it, Be—and it is. 19,67, But does man not bear in mind that We have created him aforetime while at one point they were nothing

26.
Kolob
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Kolob is a star or planet described in Mormon scripture. According to this work, Kolob is the heavenly body nearest to the throne of God, while the Book of Abraham refers to Kolob as a star, it also refers to planets as stars, and, therefore, some Mormon commentators consider Kolob to be a planet. The body also appears in Mormon culture, including a reference to Kolob in an LDS hymn, the Book of Abraham was dictated in 1836 by Smith after he purchased a set of Egyptian scrolls that accompanied a mummy exhibition. According to Smith, the scrolls described a vision of Abraham, in which Abraham, saw the stars, that they were great. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time, the measurement according to celestial time, which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand according to the measurement of the Earth. This is similar to Psalm 90,4 which says that For a thousand years in sight are but as yesterday when it is past and 2 Peter 3,8 which says, one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. Additional, similar information about Kolob is found in the Kirtland Egyptian Papers, constituting manuscripts in the handwriting of Smith and his scribes. According to the traditional, literal Mormon interpretation of the Book of Abraham, Kolob is a star or planet in this universe that is, or is near. According to Smith, this star was discovered by Methuselah and Abraham by looking through the Urim and Thummim, LDS Church leader and historian B. H. Roberts was confident that this hierarchy of stars orbiting other stars would be confirmed by astronomers. The Book of Abraham is unclear about Kolob being a star or a planet, one part of the Book of Abraham states that Abraham saw the stars. And that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God, and the name of the great one is Kolob. Thus, Kolob is referred to as a star, however, the book defines the word Kokaubeam as meaning all the great lights, which were in the firmament of heaven. This would appear to include planets as among the stars, in addition, the Book of Abraham text appears to classify Kolob as among a hierarchy of planets. On the other hand, in the Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar paper, Kolob is classified as one of twelve fixed stars, though fixed, such objects were proven to have proper motion by Edmund Halley in 1718. Apparently referring to proper motion, Smith said that Kolob moves swifter than the rest of the fixed stars. Also, the Book of Abraham refers to fixed planets, thereby including planets in the set of objects that may be fixed. He also refers to the sun as a planet, which further complicates the terminology

27.
Throne of God
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The Throne of God is the reigning centre of God in the Abrahamic religions, primarily Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The throne is said by various books to reside beyond the Seventh Heaven and is called Araboth in Judaism. Many in the Christian religion consider the ceremonial chair as symbolic or allegorical, micaiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel all speak of Gods throne, although some philosophers such as Saʿadiah Gaon and Maimonides, interpreted such mention of a throne as allegory. The heavenly throne room or throne room of God is a detailed presentation of the throne. Micaiahs extended prophecy is the first detailed depiction of a throne room in Judaism. Zechariah 3 depicts a vision of the throne room where Satan. Many Christians consider this an event, others such as Goulder view the vision as symbolic of crisis on earth. The concept of a heavenly throne occurs in three Dead Sea Scroll texts, later speculation on the throne of God became a theme of Merkavah mysticism. In the New Testament, the Throne of God is talked about in several forms, including Heaven as the Throne of God, The Throne of David, The Throne of Glory, The Throne of Grace and many more. It is also said that out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings, in Islamic theology, The Throne is the greatest thing ever created by God. Some Muslims believe God created the throne as a sign of his power and not as place of dwelling. The Quran mentions the throne some 25 times, such as in verse 23,116, The Quran depicts the angels as carrying the throne of God and praising his glory, similar to Old Testament images. The Ayat al-Kursi, is a verse from Al-Baqara, the sura of the Quran. It references the Throne, and also Gods greatest name, Al-Hayy Al-Qayyoom, scholars of hadith have stated that the Prophet Muhammad said the reward for reciting this verse after every prayer is Paradise, and that reciting it is a protection from the devil. Prophetic hadith also establish that The Throne is above the roof of Al-Firdaus Al-Ala, the highest level of Paradise where Gods closest and most beloved servants in the hereafter shall dwell

28.
God in Mormonism
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Also, Mormonism teaches that the intelligence dwelling in each human is coeternal with God. The Mormon conception of God also differs substantially from the Jewish tradition of monotheism in which elohim is a completely different conception. This description of God represents the Mormon orthodoxy, formalized in 1915 based on earlier teachings, other currently existing and historical branches of Mormonism have adopted different views of god, such as the Adam–God doctrine and Trinitarianism. Most early Latter Day Saints came from a Protestant background, believing in the doctrine of Trinity that had developed during the early centuries of Christianity. Before about 1835, Mormon theological teachings were similar to that established view, however, founder Joseph Smiths teachings regarding the nature of the Godhead developed during his lifetime, becoming most fully developed in the few years prior to his murder in 1844. Beginning as a description of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as being One, Smith taught that the Father. Mormons view their concept of the Godhead as a restoration of original Christian doctrine as taught by Christ, elements of this doctrine were revealed gradually over time to Smith. The book describes the Spirit of the Lord in the form of a man, prior to the birth of Jesus, the book depicts him as a spirit without flesh and blood, with a spirit body that looked the same as he would appear during his physical life. Moreover, Jesus described himself as follows, Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people, I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name, and they shall become my sons and my daughters. In another passage of the Book of Mormon, the prophet Abinadi states, I would that ye should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people. After Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven, the Book of Mormon states that he visited a group of people in the Americas, who saw that he had a resurrected, tangible body. During his visit, he was announced by the voice of God the Father, and those present felt the Holy Spirit, the Book of Mormon states that Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit are one. The LDS Church interprets this oneness as a metaphorical oneness in spirit, purpose, on the other hand, some Latter Day Saint sects, such as the Community of Christ, consider the Book of Mormon to be consistent with trinitarianism. Some scholars have suggested that the view of Jesus in the Book of Mormon is also consistent, or perhaps most consistent. In 1835, Joseph Smith, with the involvement of Sidney Rigdon, publicly taught the idea that Jesus Christ, lectures on Faith were included as part of the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants. They were eventually removed from the Doctrine and Covenants by the LDS Church, most modern Latter Day Saints do not accept the idea of a two personage Godhead, with the Father as a spirit and the Holy Spirit as the shared mind of the Father and the Son. In 1838, Smith published a narrative of his First Vision, in the endowment ceremony, introduced by Smith in 1842, the name Elohim is used to refer to God the Father

29.
Divinity
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Such things are regarded as divine due to their transcendental origins or because their attributes or qualities are superior or supreme relative to things of the Earth. Divine things are regarded as eternal and based in truth, while things are regarded as ephemeral. Such things that may qualify as divine are apparitions, visions, prophecies, miracles, and in some also the soul, or more general things like resurrection, immortality, grace. Otherwise what is or is not divine may be loosely defined, the root of the word divine is literally godly, but the use varies significantly depending on which deity is being discussed. This article outlines the major distinctions in the use of the terms. For specific related academic terms, see Divinity, or Divine, for instance, Jehovah is closely associated with storms and thunder throughout much of the Old Testament. He is said to speak in thunder, and thunder is seen as a token of his anger and this power was then extended to prophets like Moses and Samuel, who caused thunderous storms to rain down on their enemies. Divinity always carries connotations of goodness, beauty, beneficence, justice, pantheistic and polytheistic faiths make no such distinction, gods and other beings of transcendent power often have complex, ignoble, or even irrational motivations for their acts. Note that while the demon and demonic are used in monotheistic faiths as antonyms to divine, they are in fact derived from the Greek word daimón. There are three distinct usages of divinity and divine in religious discourse, In monotheistic faiths, the divinity is often used to refer to the singular God central to that faith. Often the word takes the article and is capitalized — the Divinity — as though it were a proper name or definitive honorific. Divine — capitalized — may be used as an adjective to refer to the manifestations of such a Divinity or its powers and this leads to the second usage of the word divine, to refer to the operation of transcendent power in the world. In its most direct form, the operation of transcendent power implies some form of divine intervention, for pan- and polytheistic faiths this usually implies the direct action of one god or another on the course of human events. In monotheistic religions, divine intervention may take very direct forms, miracles, visions, transcendent force or power may also operate through more subtle and indirect paths. Monotheistic faiths generally support some version of divine providence, which acknowledges that the divinity of the faith has a profound but unknowable plan always unfolding in the world. Unforeseeable, overwhelming, or seemingly unjust events are often thrown on the will of the Divine, in deferences like the Muslim inshallah, in the third usage, extensions of divinity and divine power are credited to living, mortal individuals. More commonly, and more pertinent to recent history, leaders merely claim some form of divine mandate, in Greek mythology, Achilles mother bathed him in the river Styx to give him immortality, and Hercules — as the son of Zeus — inherited near-godly powers. In religious Taoism, Lao Tsu is venerated as a saint with his own powers, various individuals in the Buddhist faith, beginning with Siddhartha, are considered to be enlightened, and in religious forms of Buddhism they are credited with divine powers

30.
Holy Spirit in Christianity
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For the majority of Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity, the Triune God manifested as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each person itself being God. The New Testament details a relationship between the Holy Spirit and Jesus during his earthly life and ministry. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke and the Nicene Creed state that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove during his baptism, the theology of the Holy Spirit is called pneumatology. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Lord, the Giver of Life in the Nicene Creed, since the first century, Christians have also called upon God with the trinitarian formula Father, Son and Holy Spirit in prayer, absolution and benediction. The Koine Greek word pneûma is found around 385 times in the New Testament, Pneuma appears 105 times in the four canonical gospels,69 times in the Acts of the Apostles,161 times in the Pauline epistles, and 50 times elsewhere. These usages vary, in 133 cases, it refers to spirit in a general sense, around 93 times, the reference to the Holy Spirit, sometimes under the name pneuma and sometimes explicitly as the pneûma tò Hagion. It was generally translated into the Vulgate as Spiritus and Spiritus Sanctus, the English terms Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit are complete synonyms, one derives from the Old English gast and the other from the Latin loanword spiritus. Like pneuma, they refer to the breath, to its animating power, and to the soul. In particular, Another Stoic concept which offered inspiration to the Church was that of divine Spirit, cleanthes, wishing to give more explicit meaning to Zenos creative fire, had been the first to hit upon the term pneuma, or spirit, to describe it. The sacredness of the Holy Spirit is affirmed in all three Synoptic Gospels which proclaim blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin. What the Hebrew Bible calls Spirit of God and Spirit of Elohim is called in the Talmud, although the expression Holy Spirit occurs in Ps.51,11 and in Isa. 63, 10–11, it had not yet acquired quite the same meaning which was attached to it in rabbinical literature, in Gen.1,2 Gods spirit hovered over the form of lifeless matter, thereby making the Creation possible. The most characteristic sign of the presence of the ruach ha-kodesh is the gift of prophecy, the use of the word ruach in the phrase ruach ha-kodesh seems to suggest that Judaic authorities believed the Holy Spirit was a kind of communication medium like the wind. The spirit talks sometimes with a masculine and sometimes with a feminine voice, the Holy Spirit does not simply appear for the first time at Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus, but is present in the Gospel of Luke prior to the birth of Jesus. In Luke 1,15, John the Baptist was said to be filled with the Holy Spirit prior to birth, and the Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Mary in Luke 1,35. In Luke 3,16 John the Baptist stated that Jesus baptized not with water but with the Holy Spirit, in Luke 11,13 Jesus provided assurances that God the Father would give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Matthew 10,20 refers to the act of speaking through the disciples

31.
Ordinance (Latter Day Saints)
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In the Latter Day Saint movement the term ordinance is used to refer to sacred rites and ceremonies that have spiritual and symbolic meanings and act as a means of conveying divine grace. Ordinances are physical acts which signify or symbolize a spiritual act, for some ordinances. Ordinances are always performed by the authority of the priesthood and in the name of Jesus Christ, LDS use of the term ordinance carries the same meaning as the term sacrament as used by other Christian denominations 1. Some ordinances, such as baptism, confirmation and the sacrament of the Lords Supper, are similar to those practiced by other Christian denominations, other Latter Day Saint ordinances are unique and usually performed within a Latter Day Saint temple. These ordinances include the endowment and sealings, saving ordinances are those ordinances that are a requirement for exaltation. Most Latter Day Saints denominations see saving ordinances as necessary, but not sufficient, for example, baptism is believed to be required for exaltation, but simply having been baptized does not guarantee such a result. The baptized person is expected to go on to be obedient to Gods commandments, the following are examples of saving ordinances in most sects of the Latter Day Saint movement, Baptism, Performed by immersion at age eight or older. Confirmation and reception of the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Performed by laying hands on the head of a baptized member. Through confirmation, the initiate becomes a member of the church. Latter Day Saint theology has recognized at least three orders of priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood, the Melchizedek priesthood, and the Patriarchal priesthood, although these are different orders, they are all subsumed under the priesthood held by Jesus Christ, or the Melchizedek priesthood. In some Latter Day Saint churches, some additional saving ordinances are performed in temples and these include the endowment, the washing and anointing, and sealings. Currently, only LDS Church-derived and Cutlerite-derived denominations within the Latter Day Saints movement practice all three, other Latter Day Saint denominations, such as Community of Christ-derived and Hedrickite-derived denominations do not perform any of them. Still other denominations, such Strangite-derived denominations, practice sealings but reject the washing and anointing, endowment, Referred to as a gift of power from on high by Joseph Smith, the purpose and meaning of the endowment varied during his lifetime. After 1842, the endowment usually consists of two phases, an initiation, and an instructional and testing phase, the initiation consisted of the washing and anointing, culminating in the clothing of the patron in a Garment of the Holy Priesthood. The instructional and testing phase of the endowment consisted of a reenactment of Adam. The instruction is punctuated with personal covenants, gestures, and a circle around an altar. Marriage and sealing, An ordinance where individuals are married and sealed as husband and this ordinance is particularly performed by the LDS Church and branches of Mormon fundamentalism. According to Latter Day Saint theology, ordinances can be performed vicariously on behalf of any person who would desire to accept the ordinance but did not receive it

32.
Celestial marriage
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Celestial marriage is a doctrine of Mormonism, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and branches of Mormon fundamentalism. Within the LDS Church, celestial marriage is an associated with a covenant that usually takes place inside temples by those authorized to hold the sealing power. The only people allowed to enter the temple, be married there, obtaining a temple recommend requires one to abide by LDS Church doctrine and be interviewed and considered worthy by their bishop and stake president. A prerequisite to contracting a marriage, in addition to obtaining a temple recommend, involves undergoing the temple endowment. In the marriage ceremony a man and a woman make covenants to God and to other and are said to be sealed as husband and wife for time. In the 19th century, the celestial marriage usually referred to the practice of plural marriage. The term is used in this sense by Mormon fundamentalists not affiliated with the LDS Church. In the LDS Church today, both men and women may enter a marriage with only one living partner at a time. A man may be sealed to more than one woman, if his wife dies, he may enter another celestial marriage, and be sealed to both his living wife and deceased wife or wives. Many Mormons believe that all these marriages will be valid in the eternities, in 1998, the LDS Church changed the policy and now also allows women to be sealed to more than one man. A woman, however, may not be sealed to more than one man at a time while she is alive and she may only be sealed to subsequent partners after she has died. Proxy sealings, like proxy baptisms, are offered to the person in the afterlife. According to church teachings, the marriage covenant, as with other covenants. If only one remains righteous that person is promised a righteous eternal companion in eternity, Mormons do not interpret Jesus statement as meaning that marriages will not exist after the Resurrection, but that marriages will not be performed after the Resurrection. Thus, Mormons believe that only mortals can be the subject of an eternal marriage ordinance, celestial marriage is an instance of the LDS Church doctrine of sealing. Following a celestial marriage, not only are the couple sealed as husband and wife, Mormons believe that through this sealing, man, wife and children will live together forever, if obedient to Gods commandments. There is substantial doctrinal dispute between the LDS Church and its offshoots as to whether celestial marriage is plural or monogamous, sealings for time and eternity were being performed for monogamous couples long before 1890. Throughout all time periods of the LDS Churchs history, the majority of temple sealings were between one man and one wife

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Sealing (Mormonism)
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Sealing is an ordinance performed in Latter Day Saint temples by a person holding the sealing authority. The purpose of this ordinance is to seal familial relationships, making possible the existence of family relationships throughout eternity, LDS teachings place great importance on the specific authority required to perform these sealings. Church doctrine teaches that this authority, called the Priesthood, corresponds to that given to Saint Peter in Matthew 16,19, sealings are typically performed as marriages or as sealing of children to parents. They were performed prior to the death of Joseph Smith, and are performed in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although some denominations, such as the Community of Christ, view sealing as an artifact of Smiths practice of plural marriage and this means that in the afterlife they and their family will be together forever. An illustrative difference in the ceremony performed in LDS temples is the replacement of the words until death do us part with for time. Eternal marriages are performed vicariously for the deceased, of effect after receiving all other saving ordinances. As with sealings of living persons, they are sealed with their spouse, couples who have children born to them before being sealed may have their children sealed to them afterwards. Couples who have children after being sealed need not have their children sealed to them in a separate ceremony, children born to sealed parents are born in the covenant and are automatically sealed to their parents. Adopted children may be sealed to their parents once the adoption has been legally finalized. The union of a couple is regarded as valid only if both individuals have kept their religious commitments and followed LDS teachings. No one will be sealed to any one with whom they do not want to be sealed, only worthy members of the LDS Church, who hold current valid temple recommends, can attend and witness sealings. Non-member family and friends generally wait in the waiting room during the sealing ceremony. Since the LDS Church rejects same-sex marriages, these unions are not performed in temples nor are they recognized by the LDS Church, not all countries recognize marriages performed by clergy outside of the state religion. In these cases, temple marriages are not seen as binding. In other cases, marriages must be performed in a forum for any to witness or formally object. In such circumstances, government representatives or authorized clergy will perform the public wedding prior to the temple sealing. In the United States and some countries, bishops and temple sealers have the civil authority to perform marriages

34.
Mormonism and polygamy
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The Latter-day Saints practice of polygamy has been controversial, both within Western society and the LDS Church itself. America was both fascinated and horrified by the practice of polygamy, with the Republican platform at one time referencing the twin relics of barbarism—polygamy, the private practice of polygamy was instituted in the 1830s by founder Joseph Smith. In 1862, the United States Congress passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, in spite of the law, Mormons continued to practice polygamy, believing that it was protected by the First Amendment. In 1890, church president Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto that officially terminated the practice of polygamy. Although this Manifesto did not dissolve existing plural marriages, relations with the United States markedly improved after 1890, on its web site, the church states that the standard doctrine of the church is monogamy and that polygamy was a temporary exception to the rule. Many early converts, including Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, and Lyman Johnson, Pratt reported that Smith told some early members in 1831 and 1832 that plural marriage was a true principle, but that the time to practise it had not yet come. Johnson also claimed to have heard the doctrine from Smith in 1831, mosiah Hancock reported that his father was taught about plural marriage in the spring of 1832. William Clayton, Smiths scribe, recorded polygamous marriages in 1843. Clayton relates, On the 1st day of May,1843, I officiated in the office of an Elder by marrying Lucy Walker to the Prophet Joseph Smith, during this period the Prophet Joseph took several other wives. Amongst the number I well remember Eliza Partridge, Emily Partridge, Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Kimball and these all, he acknowledged to me, were his lawful, wedded wives, according to the celestial order. His wife Emma was cognizant of the fact of some, if not all, of these being his wives, the majority of what became the Quorum of the Twelve in 1835 attended Mormon conferences held in the center of the Cochranites in 1834 and 1835. Joseph Smith publicly condemned polygamy, denied his involvement in it, but church leaders nevertheless began practicing polygamy in the 1840s, particularly members of the Quorum of the Twelve. At the time, the practice was kept secret from non-members, throughout his life, Smith publicly denied having multiple wives. However, John C. Bennett was called to account by Joseph and Hyrum Smith, in April 1844, Joseph Smith referred to polygamy as John C. The practice was publicly announced in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, in 1852, some five years after the Mormons arrived in Utah, the doctrine authorizing plural marriage was published in the 1876 version of the LDS Churchs Doctrine and Covenants. The 1843 polygamy revelation, published posthumously, counseled Smiths wife Emma to accept all of Smiths plural wives, Emma Smith was publicly and privately opposed to the practice and Joseph may have married some women without Emma knowing beforehand. Emma Smith remained affiliated with the RLDS Church until her death at the age of 74, Emma Smith claimed that the very first time she ever became aware of the 1843 polygamy revelation was when she read about it in Orson Pratts publication The Seer in 1853. There is a difference between sealing, and marriage

35.
Elohim
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Elohim is a grammatically plural noun for gods or deity in Biblical Hebrew. In Modern Hebrew, it is referred to in the singular despite the -im ending that denotes plural masculine nouns in Hebrew. It is generally thought that Elohim is derived from eloah, the latter being a form of the Northwest Semitic noun ’il. The related nouns eloah and el are used as names or as generics. The notion of divinity underwent radical changes throughout the period of early Israelite identity, Rabbinic scholar Maimonides wrote that the various other usages are commonly understood to be homonyms. The Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible defines elohim as a plural of eloah and it contains an added heh as third radical to the biconsonantal root. Discussions of the etymology of elohim essentially concern this expansion, El is usually derived from a root meaning to be strong and/or to be in front. The word el is a term for god in Aramaic, paleo-Hebrew. The Canaanite pantheon of gods was known as ilhm, the Ugaritic equivalent to elohim, for instance, in the Ugaritic Baal cycle we read of seventy sons of Asherah. Each son of god was held to be the deity for a particular people. Elohim occurs frequently throughout the Torah, in some cases, it behaves like a singular noun in Hebrew grammar, and is then generally understood to denote the single God of Israel. In other cases, Elohim acts as a plural of the word Eloah. The words used for God varies in the Hebrew Bible, form criticism postulates the differences of names may be the result of geographical origins, the P and E sources coming from the North and J from the South. J presents Yahweh anthropomorphically, for example, walking through the Garden of Eden looking for Adam, in the Jahwist tale, Yahweh is simply stationed in the sky, above the clouds without the ladder or angels. Likewise, the Elohist describes Jacob wrestling with an angel, the classical documentary hypothesis, first developed in the late 19th century CE among literary scholars, holds that the Elohist portions of the Torah were composed in the 9th century BCE. The phrase bene elohim, translated sons of the Gods, has a parallel in Ugaritic and Phoenician texts. Elohim occupy the seventh rank of ten in the famous medieval Rabbinic scholar Maimonides Jewish angelic hierarchy, Maimonides said, I must premise that every Hebrew knows that the term Elohim is a homonym, and denotes God, angels, judges, and the rulers of countries. In Hebrew the ending -im mainly indicates a masculine plural, however with Elohim the construction is usually understood to be grammatically singular when referring to the Hebrew God, but grammatically plural elohim when used of pagan divinities

36.
Tetragrammaton
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The tetragrammaton is the four Hebrew letters יהוה‎, commonly transliterated into Latin letters as YHWH. It is one of the names of God used in the Hebrew Bible, the name may be derived from a verb that means to be, to exist, to cause to become, or to come to pass. The books of the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible contain the Hebrew word יהוה‎, common substitutions for Hebrew forms are hakadosh baruch hu, Adonai, or HaShem. The letters, properly read from right to left, are, in unpointed Biblical Hebrew, most vowels are not written and the rest are written only ambiguously, as certain consonants can double as vowel markers. These are referred to as matres lectionis, for similar reasons, an appearance of the Tetragrammaton in ancient Egyptian records of the 13th century BCE sheds no light on the original pronunciation. Thus the first-century Jewish historian and philosopher Josephus said that the name of God consists of four vowels. The original consonantal text of the Hebrew Bible was, several centuries later, in places that the consonants of the text to be read differed from the consonants of the written text, they wrote the qere in the margin as a note showing what was to be read. In such a case the vowels of the qere were written on the ketiv, for a few frequent words, the marginal note was omitted, these are called qere perpetuum. The combination produces יְהֹוָה and יֱהֹוִה respectively, non-words that would spell Yehovah, the vocalisations of יְהֹוָה and אֲדֹנָי are not identical. The shva in YHWH and the hataf patakh in DNY appear different, the vocalisation can be attributed to Biblical Hebrew phonology, where the hataf patakh is grammatically identical to a shva, always replacing every shva naḥ under a guttural letter. Since the first letter of אֲדֹנָי is a letter while the first letter of יְהֹוָה is not. The table below considers the vowel points for יְהֹוָה and אֲדֹנָי, respectively, In the table directly above, the simple shewa in Yehovah and the hatef patah in Adonai are not the same vowel. The difference being, the simple shewa is an a sound as in alone and his proposal to read YHWH as יַהְוֶה‎ was based in large part on various Greek transcriptions, such as ιαβε, dating from the first centuries CE but also on the forms of theophoric names. Gesenius proposal to read YHWH as יַהְוֶה‎ is accepted as the best scholarly reconstructed vocalised Hebrew spelling of the tetragrammaton, recently, as Yahweh is likely an imperfective verb form, Yahu is its corresponding preterite or jussive short form, compare yiŝtahaweh, yiŝtáhû = do obeisance. Jehovah is a late hybrid formed by combining the Latin letters JHVH with the vowels of Adonai, however, it is no longer used in most mainstream English translations, with Lord or LORD usually used instead, generally indicating that the corresponding Hebrew is YHWH or Yehowah. The oldest known inscription of the dates to 840 BCE. It bears the earliest certain reference to the Israelite God Yahweh. The most recent discovery of an inscription, dating to the 6th century BCE, was found written in Hebrew on two silver scrolls recovered from Jerusalem

37.
Mary, mother of Jesus
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Mary, also known by various titles, styles and honorifics, was a 1st-century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus, according to the New Testament and the Quran. The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin, the miraculous birth took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, the Gospel of Luke begins its account of Marys life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to canonical gospel accounts, Mary was present at the crucifixion and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to the Catholic and Orthodox teaching, at the end of her life her body was assumed directly into Heaven. Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion and she is claimed to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, there is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely her status as the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, many Protestants minimize Marys role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references. Mary also has a position in Islam, where one of the longer chapters of the Quran is devoted to her. Marys name in the manuscripts of the New Testament was based on her original Aramaic name ܡܪܝܡ‎. The English name Mary comes from the Greek Μαρία, which is a form of Μαριάμ. Both Μαρία and Μαριάμ appear in the New Testament, in Christianity, Mary is commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husbands involvement. The three main titles for Mary used by the Orthodox are Theotokos, Aeiparthenos as confirmed in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Catholics use a wide variety of titles for Mary, and these titles have in turn given rise to many artistic depictions. For example, the title Our Lady of Sorrows has inspired such masterpieces as Michelangelos Pietà, the title Theotokos was recognized at the Council of Ephesus in 431. However, this phrase in Greek, in the abbreviated form ΜΡ ΘΥ, is an indication commonly attached to her image in Byzantine icons. The Council stated that the Church Fathers did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God, some Marian titles have a direct scriptural basis. For instance, the title Queen Mother has been given to Mary since she was the mother of Jesus, the scriptural basis for the term Queen can be seen in Luke 1,32 and the Isaiah 9,6. Queen Mother can be found in 1 Kings 2, 19-20 and Jeremiah 13, other titles have arisen from reported miracles, special appeals or occasions for calling on Mary

38.
Brigham Young
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Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the second President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877 and he founded Salt Lake City and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Young also led the foundings of the precursors to the University of Utah, Young was dubbed by his followers the Lion of the Lord for his bold personality and was also commonly called Brother Brigham by Latter-day Saints. Young was a polygamist and was involved in controversies regarding black people and the Priesthood, the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows massacre. Young was born to John Young and Abigail Nabby Howe, a family in Whitingham, Vermont. Young was first married in 1824 to Miriam Angeline Works, though he had converted to the Methodist faith in 1823, Young was drawn to Mormonism after reading the Book of Mormon shortly after its publication in 1830. He officially joined the new church in 1832 and traveled to Upper Canada as a missionary, after his wife died in 1832, Young joined many Mormons in establishing a community in Kirtland, Ohio. In 1844, while in jail awaiting trial for treason charges, Joseph Smith, several claimants to the role of church president emerged during the succession crisis that ensued. Young opposed this reasoning and motion, the majority in attendance were persuaded that the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was to lead the church with Young as the Quorums president. Many of Youngs followers would later reminisce that while Young spoke to the congregation, he looked or sounded exactly like Smith, Young was ordained President of the Church in December 1847, three and a half years after Smiths death. Rigdon became the president of a church organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Repeated conflict led Young to relocate his group of Latter-day Saints to the Salt Lake Valley, Young organized the journey that would take the Mormon pioneers to Winter Quarters, Nebraska, in 1846, then to the Salt Lake Valley. By the time Young arrived at the destination, it had come under American control as a result of war with Mexico. Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24,1847, Youngs expedition was one of the largest and one of the best organized westward treks. On August 22,29 days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, after three years of leading the church as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Young reorganized a new First Presidency and was declared president of the church on December 27,1847. As colonizer and founder of Salt Lake City, Young was appointed the territorys first governor, during his time as prophet, Young directed the establishment of settlements throughout present-day Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, California and parts of southern Colorado and northern Mexico. Young was also one of the first to subscribe to Union Pacific stock, Young organized the first legislature and established Fillmore as the territorys first capital. Young organized a Board of Regents to establish a university in the Salt Lake Valley and it was established on February 28,1850, as the University of Deseret, its name was eventually changed to the University of Utah

Detail from a North Mississippi Christian cemetery headstone with the inscription: "May the resurrection find thee On the bosom of thy God."

Resurrection of the Flesh (c. 1500) by Luca Signorelli – based on 1 Corinthians 15: 52: "the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto.

Map by Pierre Mortier, 1700, based on theories of Pierre Daniel Huet, Bishop of Avranches. A caption in French and Dutch reads: Map of the location of the terrestrial paradise, and of the country inhabited by the patriarchs, laid out for the good understanding of sacred history, by M. Pierre Daniel Huet.